Some people are disillusioned with the politics of Elon Musk, while others want to avoid being locked up by Musk’s hatred.
Automakers are being hit by opportunities.
Polestar, Lucid Motors, Volvo and Ford have long been following Tesla in EV sales, but are taking advantage of pushbacks to their brands by releasing conquest bonuses and incentives that challenge buyers’ brand loyalty.
Shortly after Polestar started offering a $5,000 discount, Jordan Hofmann, the automaker’s sales manager, said the bonus was already a success.
“This week we saw some of the best order days for the Pole Star 3. The response to the Tesla conquest was incredible.”
Joseph Yun, Edmund’s consumer insight analyst, says that the automaker’s recent brand devaluation has led to EV owners switching, but most offers don’t require buyers to actually trade Teslas, but he certainly points out that trend.
Musk used his wealth to help Donald Trump take over, and subsequent federal acquisitions via DOGE have led many to associate Teslas with the controversial billionaire. The protest movement known as Tesla Takedown is spreading globally. Meanwhile, vandalism of Tesla’s property and vehicle is on the rise. More violent attacks, including arson, suffered the rage of President Trump, who vowed to treat such incidents as “domestic terrorism.”
Whether the Tesla owner is on the side of the protesters or if someone doesn’t want to spray a sw on the car, Yoon said the buyers are at a loss and willing to remove their car.
“These conquest bonus programs are leveraging these people. [trade in their Teslas] Anyway. What if we make it a little sweet for them and make sure they come to us instead of their competitors? “Yun said.
On the side of automakers, Sean Tucker, the chief editor of the Kelly Blue Book, told TechCrunch that trade economics is currently different due to Tesla’s unique circumstances.
“Usually, when a dealer gets a trade-in, they either put it on the use side of the business and sell it, or in some cases to an auction company, and then sell it to another dealer. “At Tesla, it’s really different to Tesla, because it’s very difficult to fix the resale price of a Tesla.
Tucker noted that small brands like Polestar and Lucid are willing to bring Tesla to a trade-in defeat in order to remove it from the road and place one of its vehicles on the road.
And Yoon said it makes perfect sense for two start-up EV makers to target marketing towards the main competition.
Early indicators show that mask political activity is negatively affecting new car sales. It is unclear whether these trade-in incentives and discounts will cause dents in Tesla’s share of the EV market.
Trump’s new car rate outcomes could add even more complex results as buyers seek out low-cost vehicles.
“Tesla’s big edge is that the most popular vehicles are manufactured here and there are very few imported parts,” Yun said. “Many of these new EVs source a lot of foreign countries for parts and manufacturing.
Tesla Trade-in Options
Polestar began offering a special $5,000 discount to Tesla drivers looking to lease their new Polestar 3 crossover in February. In addition to that transaction, a $15,000 clean vehicle incentive for leasing consumers could potentially win Tesla owners a total of $20,000 from the Model 2025 EV for the switch.
Lucid Motors has also begun offering Tesla owners a discount of up to $4,000 when purchasing the 2025 Lucid Air Sedan. This is $2,000 to buy a car, or $2,000 to replace your current Tesla. Lucid is also sweetening the deal by robbing the top another $1,000 for vehicles available at the sales studio location when ordering.
Both Polestar and Lucid say the buyers must make the delivery by April 30th.
In mid-March, Volvo launched its own national incentive, offering customers who currently own or leasing Tesla a $1,000 bonus to buy or lease a fully electric Volvo in 2024 or 2025 or 2025.5 (annual renewal) as long as they receive delivery by the end of April. This means that buyers don’t even need to buy an EV to take advantage of this deal. The only 2025.5 model Volvo has at the moment is the XC90 plug-in hybrid SUV.
Ford concluded with a $1,000 discount for Tesla owners who switched to lightning for their new Mustang Mach-E or F-150. This discount was available to buyers who delivered by April 2nd.
A Ford spokesman told TechCrunch that the automaker has nothing to share about current or future incentives.
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