Tesla began long before Elon Musk was involved, but it’s impossible to consider Tesla as it is today without Musk’s involvement. Love him or hate him, he is mainly responsible for the rapid increase in the production and sale of electric vehicles worldwide.
Under Musk’s guidance, Tesla has produced some cool cars and done a lot of good for the auto industry. But is Tesla still cool in 2025?
Related: Cybertruck is insanely expensive to insure (but other Teslas are worse)
Tesla
Tesla has stagnated
Tesla recently launched a new Model Y, codenamed Juniper, with several tweaks that fans have received well. It has more range, a quieter interior (allegedly), and a slightly updated front and rear end.
And that’s it. No bold new battery tech, no bold new lines that improve aerodynamics. It’s an iterative improvement on a very nice car.
It’s what Tesla seems to do once a vehicle has launched. Instead of a refresh cycle for its vehicles, we get random, iterative updates. Save for the Cybertruck, all Teslas are cut from the same design mold. It’s boring.
In 2024, production was down four percent year over year, and deliveries were down one percent. Net revenue was down six percent.
Related: BYD’s Stella Li is the 2025 World Car Person of the Year
The Cybertruck is weird, not cool
At launch, the Cybertruck divided the auto world. Some thought the vehicle, which looks like something out of a PlayStation 1 game, was edgy (pun intended).
Most think it’s hideous.
The Cybertruck is also not a “truck,” as we’ve come to understand the definition, and falls well short of Musk’s idea that it could survive any dystopian hellscape it would be dropped into. There’s even an entire (lively) subreddit dedicated to how bad it is.
The Cybertruck has its fans and detractors but is ultimately just weird. If you think it’s cool, that’s great. And for the first new vehicle Tesla has introduced in quite some time, it’s a big swing and a miss.
Elon Musk is the wrong kind of polarizing
Elon Musk has always made silly – maybe even dumb – proclamations. In 2019, he said Tesla vehicles would appreciate in value, which cars don’t do (save for random classic cars).
Since then, he’s made incorrect statements about COVID-19, promised Robotaxis would arrive by 2020 (we’ve only just seen prototype Robotaxis – they still aren’t on the road), completed an ill-advised purchase of Twitter, and – for many – ruined the platform. Musk has routinely promised autonomous driving, too, and it’s still unavailable for all who purchased Full Self Driving mode on their Teslas.
Of late, Elon Musk has become a political firebrand, making what appeared to be a nazi salute and apparently influencing President Donald Trump to run the government like Musk runs his businesses and thin staff dramatically with no regard for how that will affect operations.
He’s also been found to be his own biggest fan on social media, which is cringe at its best. It may all be entertaining, but it’s not how we expect someone of Musk’s stature to behave.
Related: Volkswagen cancels ID.7 EV for North America amid “challenging EV climate”
Final thoughts
On a recent Tesla earnings call, Elon Musk spent much time discussing artificial intelligence and almost no time discussing Tesla’s actual business: making and selling electric vehicles.
Musk likes his businesses to reflect him. Most leaders are like that. The issue is Elon Musk is perpetually chasing the next thing, leaving the current thing to rot, which puts the company at risk.
It seems like Tesla is a passing fancy for Musk these days. The company isn’t very cool or exciting anymore, and the Cybertruck is a flop. Tesla is ahead of the EV pack, but true innovation is happening elsewhere in the auto industry.
Tesla isn’t “in trouble” and could recapture its verve if adequately challenged. Elon seems to like a fight, so maybe another automaker needs to square up to him.
Until then, Tesla will still make good vehicles; they’re just not cool anymore.
Related: The new Tesla Model Y looks a little too much like Cybertruck