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 11:47AM

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 Knoblauch5/29/26

The Trump administration is reportedly planning a 50% made-in-America requirement for USMCA tariff relief

Qualifying for USMCA-related lower tariffs may soon require more US-made vehicle components, according to reporting by The Wall Street Journal.

The Trump administration is reportedly planning to introduce a 50% US content requirement for vehicles covered by the trade pact to receive lower tariffs. The content would be measured by cost, according to the WSJ.

There currently isn’t any US-specific requirement for those lower tariff rates, but in order to receive preferential tariffs, vehicles are must contain at least 75% regional content (components made in North America). Per Reuters reporting, the Trump admin is seeking to raise the regional requirement to 82%.

These reported plans are subject to change as the US negotiates USMCA terms with Mexico over the next few months.

Overall, Tesla will likely have the easiest time qualifying for any stricter requirements. The automaker’s vehicles contained the highest amount of US/Canadian content in 2025, according to American University research. Ford, GM, and Stellantis all scored lower.

Notably: the underlying government data that many domestic content measurements rely on intentionally combines US and Canadian components, so it’s difficult to know exactly how much of any given vehicle is specifically US-made.

Exclusive | Trump Administration Wants Autos Under USMCA to Be at Least 50% Made in America

These reported plans are subject to change as the US negotiates USMCA terms with Mexico over the next few months.

Tom Jones5/29/26

The $640,000 Luce makes the average Ferrari look like a bargain

Put aside the shape; put aside the smoothing out of Ferrari’s iconic sharp edges; put aside, even, the calls from former Chairman and President Luca Cordero di Montezemolo to “take the Prancing Horse off.” On the grounds of price alone, Luce detractors might have a point.

By now, many of us will have read the criticisms of Ferrari’s first fully electric vehicle, as the Luce — which was unveiled to the world earlier this week and promptly saw the company’s shares crash out in New York and Milan — gets subtly shaded by competitors online and not-so-subtly shaded by basically everyone else.

What makes all of this worse for Ferrari is that, even by the luxury car maker’s notoriously high standards, they’ve slapped a pretty hefty price tag on the Luce, and the company’s CEO, Benedetto Vigna, has already been forced to defend the €550,000 ($640,000) price point, saying yesterday that it’s “fair to pay for innovation,” per Reuters.

While Ferrari’s cars have been getting more expensive of late, as recently as 2022, Ferrari’s average revenue per car sold was around $340,000. At nearly twice that price, this new electric model is obviously proving a little much (visually, conceptually, and financially) for many loyal and long-standing fans of the Prancing Horse to stomach.