Tesla Buyer Loyalty Drops a Ton, But Still 3rd in USA

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Tesla used to absolutely dominate brand loyalty surveys in the United States, and elsewhere. The vast majority of Tesla buyers said they’d buy a Tesla again or buy a Tesla as their next vehicle. However, recent research has shown that Tesla brand loyalty has dropped a lot in the past few years.

That said, even with the drop in loyalty, the US electric car company ranks 3rd among all automakers in this regard.

“After years taking number one or two positions, Tesla slipped to third place, with a 55.9% loyalty rate,” LexisNexis writes. “More Tesla owners are exploring rival EV options, with Tesla loyalty dropping from 98% in 2020 to 78% in 2025 among those replacing their EV with another EV.”

So, in other words, barely more than half (56%) of Tesla owners are interested in buying another Tesla the next time they buy a car. For those looking to buy another EV, the percentage rises to 78%. Flipped around, more than one out of every five Tesla owners who plan to buy another EV next plan to buy a non-Tesla EV. That’s quite a hit for people who claim that Teslas are so much better than other EVs (or other cars in general) and that no matter what Elon Musk does, they just can’t justify buying a different EV.

Of course, we have seen numerous Tesla owners, even people who owned several Teslas, decided to never buy one against after Elon Musk’s extreme political activities — including abruptly destroying USAID and thus killing millions of people. Some want to brush this aside or claim this is not what happened, but it definitely appears to be what happened, and it goes beyond normal politics or policy preferences. Additionally, Elon Musk’s support for Donald Trump has led to massive cuts to cleantech policy support and ridiculous, outdated support for fossil fuels and polluting vehicles.

The research also highlights the shift toward EVs in the market overall, but then also the hit the market has taken from Donald Trump and Republicans’ policies opposing EVs and all cleantech adoption. “Preference for gasoline vehicles has been falling. That trend was interrupted in October when federal EV tax credits expired. Gas loyalty snapped back from a historic low of 79.7% in September to 84.9% in November,” LexisNexis writes. “U.S. consumers are transitioning to EVs more slowly than expected, as the future looks unpredictable after policy changes, shifts in emissions standards and incentive rollbacks. EV brand loyalty dropped from 53.1% last year end to 51.3% in 2025.” We’ll see what happens in 2026 as the effects of the federal subsidy cut wear off, but also as the changes to US fuel economy standards increase in importance.