Tesla isn’t the top brand for any potential EV buyers

And no one over the age of 44 wants to go near one.

8/28/24 10:47AM

A major barrier for Tesla is getting people interested in driving electric vehicles in the first place. But it’s even struggling among people who want them.

About a third of Americans who are considering buying a car in the next year are open to buying an electric or hybrid vehicle, a new report by YouGov found. And for those interested in electric and hybrid vehicles Toyota, not Tesla, is their top choice. (Toyota is also the overall No. 1 auto brand among all Americans.) Tesla, in fact, ranks sixth among would-be EV drivers, behind Toyota, Honda, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW.

YouGov further breaks down the data by generation. Tesla does best among 30-44 year olds, but doesn’t rank in the top 10 for anyone older than that. YouGov found that Americans 44 and under are three times more likely to consider an electric vehicle as their next automobile than older folks.

Top considered brands among electric and hybrid buyers — YouGov

(I’m not exactly sure what’s going on with Gen Z and Mercedes-Benz but I think this TikTok campaign may have something to do with it.)

Of course, unlike Tesla, brands like Toyota offer hybrids, which can provide some of the benefits of electric vehicles without some of the perceived costs, like having to find EV chargers.

Still, it’s notable that Tesla, which until recently dominated the US EV market, isn’t the first or even second company electrically open-minded buyers would consider. Tesla increasingly has to compete with lower cost EV competitors, yet earlier this year abandoned plans for a $25,000 model.

Musk, whose split attention with his other companies like X has him tweeting more about Trump than Tesla, might deserve part of the blame for increased animosity toward his EV company. High-profile deadly crashes and recalls might also have something to do with it.

Max Knoblauch10/24/25

Premium seats help push airlines higher following third-quarter results

Shares of American Airlines are climbing toward the carrier’s best trading day since August 12, when ultra-budget rival Spirit issued its initial warning about its ability to survive. American’s shares are up more than 7% on Friday afternoon.

Investors’ optimism comes a day after American posted a better-than-expected full-year earnings forecast. In a call with investors, American said that it’s ramping up its premium cabin offerings.

“Our ability to grow capacity in premium markets will be further supported as we take delivery of new aircraft and reconfigure our existing fleet. These efforts will allow us to grow our premium seats at nearly two times the rate of main cabin seats,” CEO Robert Isom said. American CFO Devin May said that nose-to-tail retrofits of certain wide-body jets will bump the number of premium seats available on those planes by 25%.

Extra legroom has been a boon for major carriers, particularly this quarter. Delta Air Lines said its premium product revenue grew 9% in Q3, compared to a 4% drop in economy seat revenue. Similarly, United Airlines said its premium revenue grew 6%, outpacing economy. Shares of both airlines were up more than 3% on Friday.

Carriers with less exposure to first- and business-class tickets like Southwest Airlines and JetBlue didn’t see the same amount of momentum on the day.