Not only did Tesla have a significant first-mover (or, maybe, fast-follower) advantage with electric cars, the company also collected a fiercely loyal set of buyers. This presented a real challenge for luxury brands as Tesla was mostly taking buyers from them and not giving them back. This was going to inevitably change as more electric cars entered the market, but the collapse of Tesla’s loyalty in the United States is the clearest sign yet of the damage Elon Musk has done to his brand.
The Morning Dump today will be all about second chances. One company that’s taken advantage of Tesla’s fall from grace has been General Motors. Don’t get it twisted, while GM will keep making electric cars, it’s shifting at least one plant in the United States from the production of EVs to gas-powered trucks. Ford is finally going to be building more cars in Europe again that aren’t just, you know, weird Volkswagens.
Renault has been the exception to the rule for mainstream European automakers, but the good times only last for so long.
Tesla Is Really Jack Pardee-ing It
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Do you want to relive some trauma with me? I don’t remember my dad crying a lot, though I’ll never forget the time on January 3rd, 1993, when the Houston Oilers blew a 35-3 lead in the third quarter of the AFC Championship to miss their spot in the Super Bowl to play the vile (to us) Dallas Cowboys. Some call this game “The Comeback,” though I’ll always think of it as “The Choke.”
I remembered this while looking at the LexisNexis Risk Solutions Brand Loyalty report, which looks at automotive brand loyalty. For years, no one has been even close to Tesla. The pandemic-related disruptions impacted most automakers as traditionally loyal buyers were happy to be able to take anything that was available.
Prior to the pandemic, slightly more than half of buyers (54.3%) were likely to trade their car for another from the same brand. That number dipped below 50% during the pandemic and has, finally, climbed back to close to normal through the first half of the year (53.3%).
There are two standouts in this report. The first is Toyota, which is now the most loyal brand through the first half of 2025, with 65.9% of buyers coming back to the brand. This is helped greatly by the RAV-4, with a brand loyalty of 69.4%. Once you go RAV-4 you never go back, I guess.
Tesla, though, has gone quickly in the other direction:
Tesla, for example, was in the number one position in 2024 with 60.9% brand loyalty. In the first half of 2025, Tesla has fallen to 7th with a rate of 54.2%. Tesla owners disposing of and replacing their Tesla vehicle with another electric vehicle have historically stayed loyal to Tesla 88% of the time. Those same owners are now only 75% loyal, increasingly choosing competitive electric vehicles from other brands.
This is helpful data. There was always some inevitability to Tesla losing market share as other companies caught up, and that has somewhat clouded the discussion over how much Elon Musk’s foray into politics was hurting the brand in the United States (it’s obviously happening in Europe).
The rapid speed with which Tesla has descended from God-tier loyalty to basically being like any other car company has no other real explanation at this point. A slow descent was what everyone had expected, and this is anything but slow. And, as the numbers show, it’s not just people deciding to buy a non-EV; the company is also losing traction with people who decide to buy another EV.
I’m anxious to see the earnings report from Tesla later this month.
And what about EVs in general? From the same report:
U.S. consumers are transitioning more slowly to electric vehicles than expected. At the same time, automakers are suffering from future unpredictability, plagued by policy changes at the federal level, emissions standards, the rollback of incentives, and governmental regulations. Consumers who remain brand loyal may elect to stay with an internal combustion engine over an EV model made by the same brand.
That’s a convenient transition to…
GM’s Orion Plant Is Going To Make ICE Trucks Instead Of EV Trucks
General Motors is adjusting its electrification plans, and, no surprise, this means that the Orion Assembly in Michigan will be shifting towards more future gas-powered truck production instead of, as initially planned, electric truck production. This is likely because the strong market for electric pickups hasn’t particularly materialized, plus the loss of tax credits for cars and a general change in environmental policy in the United States.
What will happen, it seems, is that GM will make the Escalade, Silverado, and Sierra at Orion. This will allow the company to produce more Suburbans/Tahoes/Yukons/Yukons XL at the company’s Arlington Assembly.
So what of all the money the company took to make electric trucks there? According to the Detroit Free Press, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) still thinks the company is generally following the rules and shouldn’t have to give the $480 million in state funds back:
So far, no one has publicly called for GM to return any of the grant money, though the agreement contains provisions that if the company was to violate the terms, the state has the right to claw back the funds, according to GM.
“GM remains in compliance with their incentive agreement and we’re grateful for their continued commitment to creating jobs and investing here in Michigan, whether it be at the Lake Orion facility or at Factory Zero” in Hamtramck and Detroit, Courtney Overbey Martinez, vice president of communications for the Michigan Economic Development Corp., said in a statement.
Well, that’s convenient. Orion does still assemble battery packs for EVs that are built at the company’s Factory Zero facility.
Ford Is Going To Give European Dealers Some Real Cars Again
I got to drive the Ford Puma ST when I was in England, and I loved that little hatchback. I would definitely rock one of those over here, though I doubt I’ll ever get the chance. It’s one of the few Ford cars produced in Europe for Europe, as the company has largely pared down the European-specific offerings.
There’s the Volkswagen-based Ford Capri, but the less we talk about that, the better.
Ford hasn’t given up on Europe yet and, per Automotive News, will start investing again in some real products for the market:
Ford CEO Jim Farley plans to develop new passenger cars in Europe again, dealers were told in a video conference by Christoph Herr, head of the brand in German-speaking countries.
In recent years, U.S. automaker has downsized its passenger car offerings in Europe to focus on its more profitable light commercial vehicles business.
The popular Fiesta small car was dropped, along with the Galaxy and S-Max minivans. The Focus compact car is due to go out of production in the autumn.
You know what deserves a comeback? The freakin’ Escort and the freakin’ Sierra. Make it happen!
Talk About A Bad First Day
When Luca de Meo left Renault as its CEO, he went out on a real high note as the company reported healthy margins and profitability at a time when everyone else in Europe seemed lost.
Maybe his sudden timing isn’t so curious now as Renault gets a new interim CEO in Duncan Minto. Here’s how his first day went, as reported by Automotive News again:
Renault Group’s new interim CEO, finance chief Duncan Minto, found himself explaining a profit warning to analysts on his very first day on the job on July 15.
Investors reacted strongly, with Renault’s share price falling 16 percent on early trading July 16.
It was the group’s first profit warning since former CEO Luca de Meo took over a money-losing automaker in July 2020, and it points to immediate challenges facing Minto and Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard, who will co-direct Renault while it searches for a permanent top executive.
The cut was only from a margin of 7.0% to a margin of 6.5%, so it’s not quite that bad. Still, losing 16% of your value in one day is not great.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
I forgot that this was the Song of the Summer in 2013, or at least one of them. “Rude” by Magic! is definitely an earworm, but it’s also not anything I’d ever actively choose to listen to. The reason why it’s here is because I saw this Instagram reel in which a comedian notes that the song is actually about a Canadian fusion reggae singer being, frankly, politely denied a blessing from an uptight dad. I am Team Dad on this one.
The Big Question
Are you loyal to a brand? Which one?
Photo: Tesla, NBC Sports
I’m pretty loyal to pre-2005, used Subarus. I like them, both how they drive in the snow and elsewhere, how they look, and their utility (Legacy wagons, but also can see also getting an Impreza 2.5RS). I know them well as the cars I learned (through YouTube mostly) to wrench on and read most about in forums and find them easy to work on.
Subaru doesn’t really benefit since I only buy used, except a little when I buy OEM parts. I do follow/root for Subaru Motorsports USA in ARA rally, rallyX, and whatever Pastrana, Scott Speed, and Semenuk does (as well as some privateer Subaru rally teams) as pretty much the only attention I give to motorsports.
My commuter cars since 1998 have all been from the reliable Japanese makers (Toyota and Honda). The fun cars have been old German steel. I guess I should complete the Axis and get an Italian car next.
My first two cars were malaise and post-malaise US domestic cars (Ford and Mopar). They were such utter heaps of misery and their unreliability cost me so much money and stress and ruined my quality of life at a time when I had no money and a lot of stress from other sources, that I will never own another US-made car, even if it’s completely irrational 40+ years later.
The Buick Regal TourX almost made me break that rule, but it’s a German GM, so it doesn’t count.
I’ve owned a lot of Mazda’s. If they brought that EV they released overseas to Canada, I probably would have jumped on it as a replacement for the Model 3. Went Mini instead. But it’s just a short lease…so if Mazda does bring an EV to North America, I’ll be there ready to make it 3 Mazdas in the garage again instead of 2.
Having owned a V6 Camry and 3 Prii, it’s kind of obvious. 😉
A year ago, I had two Tesla Model S sitting in my garage. The biggest obstacle to replacing one of them was the abysmally disappointing Cybertruck and absence of other new products. Now my single Model S is joined by a Mercedes EV which is better as a car but not quite as good as an EV. No prizes for guessing why.
I kind of lean towards GM, well I guess pre 2008 GM, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Geo, Saturn, even Saab. Current GM is bland crossovers, Alphabet soup Cadillacs, giant bro dozer trucks and a mid engine Lamborghini looking Corvette. Maybe I’m getting old but they really need a retro futuristic electric Iroc-Z Camaro with t-tops to get some mojo back.
As long as they don’t use the Alpha platform and put a decent greenhouse on it, I’d be all for a new IROC.
I’m loyal to the Subaru dealership experience far more than the vehicle. I’ve purchased three Subarus from three different dealers and it’s always been a good experience. The flipside is that every single time I’ve walked into a Toyota store, I’ve been so turned off, I cross their cars off my list.
I have no loyalty. Every new and used car available is competing for my car-buying dollar every time I shop.
I’ve had several Nissans, but there’s nothing from them today that I find terribly interesting. Their offering today doesn’t seem to share any DNA with the S12s and S13s I enjoyed.
I’ve had several Subarus and have hated each of them at point. I would like to say I won’t own another one, but I keep finding myself back there. (If they made a WRX crosstrek or even a manual crosstrek with the larger engine I’d already be complaining about owning it.)
Yep, love my Honda’s. We’ve currently got a ’18 Civic Type-R, ’15 Civic coupe and an ’08 Honda Element in the driveway. We’ve also had an ’05 Civic coupe and ’06 Civic coupe in recent memory. As a teen, my first car was a ’90 Accord EX-R coupe which I eventually traded up to a ’96 Accord EX-R coupe.
They aren’t the prettiest, fastest or sportiest cars out there, but they are generally great all-rounders with decent driving dynamics. The efficiency, build quality and solid re-sale values are nice too. Plus, my single Mom raised us on a Honda salary and Honda was my first full-time job out of high school too. Honda has been a big part of my life and I definitely have a soft spot for them.
Unfortunately, they don’t make much that interests me anymore. The lack of coupes, truly small cars and N/A sky-high VTEC red lines has left me wondering what I’ll buy next when the time comes. I recently broke my all-Honda steak and got an old Scion iQ (which I LOVE!) when I needed a small car with an auto to run around town in and teach my son how to drive. Considered buying the new Prius when it came out, put down a deposit and everything. The limited availability in my area is the main reason why I didn’t follow through.
Right after putting the deposit down on the Prius and lamenting that Honda didn’t have anything for me though… Honda announced the new Prelude! Which for all intents and purposes is essentially a Prius coupe, it even looks like one. I like to think that was their last ditch attempt to keep me from jumping to Toyota haha… still going to check out the Prelude when it’s released. We’ll see if that can keep me in the fold.
“The rapid speed with which Tesla has descended from God-tier loyalty to basically being like any other car company has no other real explanation at this point. “
No real explanation? Oh there’s a real explanation… it’s the political backlash for Musk’s involvement with Trump and the rest of his deplorables.
I’m one of of the people where Musk, in my eyes, went from ‘hero’ to ‘less-than-zero’.
And it wasn’t just him cozying up to Trump. It was also the damage he did with “Doge”. And also the childish reaction to the disagreement he had with the former head of the supercharger team… where he childishly and idiotically fired the whole team… only to have to hire them back.
Man… if I was an employee on that team, got fired and asked to come back, if I was in a position where I didn’t need the income, I’d either respond with a “fuck you” OR with the stipulation that the former head of the supercharger team get reinstated as well.
And his past statement that Canada isn’t a real country? Giant FUCK YOU to Musk for that.
Not long after that, Tesla sales in Canada went *poof*. Now there are parking lots full of unsold Teslas that they are having trouble giving away.
These and other factors also caused me to dump all my direct and indirect (like through mutual funds) Tesla holdings
“Are you loyal to a brand?”
For-profit companies don’t have any loyalty to me… and thus, it would be stupid for me to show any blind loyalty to them.
Actually, while I’m not loyal to any brands. I like some brands (such as Honda or Toyota) than others.
And I’m hostile to some specific brands… like Tesla for the reasons I listed above.
Also BMW because they are often over-hyped, over-rated and unreliable heaps of shit that are often laden with stupid design decisions… like the elimination of oil fill plugs (as on the diff on David Tracy’s i3).
For anyone on a budget, I always strongly discourage any form of BMW/Mini ownership.
Same deal for Land Rover.
Are you me? lol
If anyone who knows me read your post, they might think I have an internet twin out there
Triplets?
Pre covid Musk was weird but in seemingly a good way, then whenever everything wasn’t going his way he had a tantrum and took it out on the rest of the world.
He made a bet with the shareholders of Tesla that never thought he would deliver on that made him the richest man in the world, and that’s fine. Being a jerk and ruining millions of people’s lives just because he’s pissed off isn’t ok. The Supreme Court says money is protected speech so we are stuck with that until the rest of us get off our asses and do something.
You could just said “he went full Nazi.”
> No real explanation? Oh there’s a real explanation… it’s the political backlash for Musk’s involvement with Trump and the rest of his deplorables.
He said “no OTHER real explanation” (than what you point out).
I’ve said it before, if you want to bankrupt someone, buy them a subscription to Land Rover Owner magazine.
Someone gave my brother a few back-issues and now he owns a 110 and an overdraft.
My Dad was an Oldsmobile guy. Whether that was to impress his father-in-law that his daughter had made a wise choice marrying him or that was already his inclination. I remember being in three of them growing up through high school. I took my drivers’ license test in the last of the three.
I’ve been part of the ownership of two BMWs and grew to hate both of them.
My Nissan and Toyota trucks were both ok.
The Peugeot 504, SAAB 9000 T and Tercel 4×4 wagon interspersed were fun and the Pug was such a tough old bird.
I’ve had three Hondas and an Acura and all have treated me well, so I have been loyal, but it’s not guaranteed that I will stick with them. But at my age and with an Accord with 65K, it’s also not guaranteed I will ever buy another vehicle.
“Some men are Baptists, others Catholics. My father was an Oldsmobile man.”
The 504 was a marvel. I sometimes wonder if they designed and built it with the tough conditions in the (dwindling) colonies in mind, because very little can kill them, and there were gadzillions of them in Arab and subsaharan Africa, both as taxis and private cars.
I’ve read they were designed with the “roads” of France’s former African colonies in mind. I bought mine used with 60K miles on the clock and over 90K more miles, the only non-normal maintenance item I had to replace was a distributor.
I was sad when it got rear-ended stopped at a light. And as old as it was, the insurance company declared it totaled. Which was the right call because the trunk and fenders were folded up and into the rear tires.
Never had much loyalty till I got into VW’s. Vehicles I’ve owned are…
91 Maxima SE –
93 Maxima SE – replaced the 91 which was stolen
90 Dakota – single cab base model, inherited from Opa
93 Eddie Bauer Exploder – bought at a dealers auction, total POS
98 Impreza 2.5RS – Brilliant Red and still my most favorite car
07 GTI (first and last NEW car) sold to CarMax at 198Kmiles
11 Golf TDI – fun while I had it, bought back by VW for $1200 more than paid for it
09 Jetta Wolfsburg – Wife’s car, proved Taco’s theory that hot chicks drive Jetta’s
14 GTI Autobahn – bought sight unseen from Vegas, jumped time at 162K, sold to CoPart
Currently
2016 GTI Autobahn, currently 67K miles, keeping this forever as nothing VW has made since appeals to me in anyway
2015 F-150 Platinum 5.0, 172K miles, love this truck in every way, also plan on keeping around for a long time
Are you loyal to a brand? Which one?
Not in a strong way. If I’m looking for a thing there are some places I will go to first to see if their option happens to meet requirements, but I’m not inclined to compromise my requirements to go with a specific brand. But as far as which one, if I can buy what I want from Costco, I’m buying it from Costco.
I committed to one woman for my entire life. Why on earth would I do the same with my cars?
My loyalties are really generally for products which have not let me down. My cars in chronological order have been –
1984 Chevy Celebrity
1987 Volvo 740 Turbo
2000 Toyota Corolla
2007 Toyota Prius
2017 Audi A4 Allroad
2018 Honda Clarity PHEV
2021 Audi A6 Allroad
Thankfully I have never had a really bad ownership experience so there isn’t a brand I wouldn’t consider owning. However there are a lot of brands that make absolutely no cars I am interested in and I am partial to wagons so at this point I fully expect my future ownership to increasingly look like loyalty to Audi and Volvo.
It also looks like I need to fill in a gap with a 90’s car at some point.
I don’t think I’ve ever been able to afford to be brand loyal when it comes to cars. If I could afford it, I don’t think I would be.
I’m on my 3rd 4runner and most recently bought a Corolla, but I’m not sure that I’m particularly loyal… There just aren’t a bunch of options in the niches I was shopping when I made the purchases.
Are you loyal to a brand?
Yes
Which one?
Studebaker. Why? They get me:
“Scotsman” was chosen to invoke the problematic stereotype of Scottish thriftiness”
“Problematic” my ass!
Username checks out.
I’ve owned a lot of Toyotas (Scion included). Forayed into Subaru and back to Toyota again with the GR C.
I used to be loyal to German brands (out of some misguided German pride or something) until they all broke either my heart or, more correctly, my wallet.
I am no longer brand loyal (with perhaps a handful of exceptions, every brand’s lineup of typical SUVs and crossovers does absolutely nothing for me), but I would say that I am model loyal. I’ll likely be driving a Mustang until I’m either dead or my left leg is unable to engage a clutch pedal. Conversely, I could also see myself tooling around in a Mini Cooper as a crotchety old sumbitch.
I’m not loyal to any brand but I’ve owned more Mustangs than anything.
At this point, same here. If you factor in the electric models (sacrilege!) we’ve leased, the number is at 6.
It’s a 50/50 split between coupe and EV.
I’m sure I’m older than you, I’ve had seven.
5-10 years ago, I was a die-hard BMW nut. I’ve had at least one every day since college when I bough my first one (An E30 of course). Now, I find myself in a weird situation where I no longer have brand loyalty. Like most other die-hards, I really couldn’t stand not just the looks of the new models, but really the overall direction. No manuals. Bigger and heavier. It’s like Lotus started making limousines. Feels wrong.
I’m lost, but I find myself with a lot of old Chevy products now, so maybe I’m just getting into a new brand loyalty.
I’m strictly Japanese for now. Our Honda Accord and next year maybe a Mazda cx70 for the second car.
I’ve owned many North American, German and British over the years but will not venture down that path again.
VW – 2
BMW – 1
Mercedes – 1
Triumph – 2
Mini (gen 1) – 1
Ford – 2
Chevrolet – 4
Mopar – 5
International – 1
Olds – 3
Pontiac – 2
Buick – 1
Nissan – 2
Honda – 2
Toyota – 1
Mazda – 1
Lada – 1
Tesla lost me at when he joined the original company.
If I had the money – still might happen, I’d lease a Lucid.
Prefer Fender Telecaster guitars, Precision Bass and Princeton Amps. Owned a load of others but keep coming back to fender. Still have some older Gibsons too
For a long time we were a loyal Toyota family, with a succession of 4 Prius models and an old Sienna for weekends. Getting them serviced at the dealer was a sour note though. Still have 2 Prii and they are very good, but our F150 Lightning has me stronger considering a CPO Mach-e for our next car in a couple years.
not really a loyalist, but have managed to have a garage full of toyotas and hondas. the right car finds you at the right time haha
I am not a brand loyalist, even though my driveway has looked like it before, and currently does. I will take a look at my options from a few brands I’ve had first though. Currently have 2 Hondas, had 2 Mazdas before it, a VW before that. My family are Mazda loyalists though.
I used to be a GM fan and basically all of one side of my family are still active ones. Their slovenly devotion, and insults to their one sibling who went Honda, has basically broken me of that. Tired of that shit. I’m not like that any longer. I like individual models at this point. I will buy whatever is the most reliable/cost effective option for me at the current moment these days.
Edit: as for any type of brand in general? I guess maybe Sony or Kubota.