As Tesla CEO Elon Musk continues to criticize California and anger Trump, West Coast residents are retaliating

The battery that once fueled the great love between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and California car buyers are slow fading away

New registrations in Tesla The Model Y in the Golden State is in decline for the full year, with its market share down 8.5% from last year, according to the data. Experian Car data. Third Quarter of the California New Car Dealers Association forecast report published on Friday shows the dominance of the electric car maker in the country the largest market for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) continued to decline. Among the top three passenger cars sold in California, the Tesla Model 3 dropped to third place, giving way to Honda Civic and Toyota Camry, potentially opening the door for free, full-throttle cars among automotive brands.

Overall, the share of the Tesla brand has fallen from 13.6% to 12.1% since the beginning of the year. Outselling non-luxury brands like Honda and Camry are a flashing red signal of a change in the overall competitive environment. The Model 3 put Tesla on the main stage as a mass-market brand, but now it faces new competition, including Cadillac, Lexus, Hyundaiand BMW, which have made significant strides in the past year. Cadillac, for example, saw a 315.2% increase in BEV registrations, while Tesla fell from 63% to 54.5%.

There could also be growing tension in the market due to strong Democratic leanings in California, which is more likely to buy an electric car, and Musk’s support for Trump. CNCDA’s forecast report, which tracks trends in California’s new vehicle market, comes after EV CEO constantly praised Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. The share of registered Democrats in California rose to 45.3% as of 2020, while Republican registration remained at about 23.9%, according to the data California Institute of Public Policy. Meanwhile, a 2020 research found that American Democrats are significantly more receptive to electric cars than Republicans. And California’s year-to-date share of the BEV market is 22.2 percent, compared to a total U.S. market share of 7.9 percent, according to CNCDA.

Also, Musk has not been kind to California. He publicly promised to move SpaceXand X out of state to Texas this year. The “last straw” came after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law the Supporting Academic Futures and Educators for Today’s Youth (SAFETY) Act, which aims to ban forced absence policies in schools. Musk said that this is tantamount to an attack on families and companies.

It probably doesn’t hurt that Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is a California native. The vice president lives in Washington, D.C., but she and husband Doug Emhoff own A mansion for 5 million dollars in Brentwood, California.

This was announced by CNCDA President Brian Maas Fortune Several factors are likely behind this trend.

“We believe Tesla’s decline could occur for several reasons, starting with market saturation,” Maas said in a statement. “Californians who wanted and could afford a Tesla mostly already did.”

In addition, Tesla has not released any new affordable models other than the “very niche and expensive Cybertruck,” he added. There are also now more options from traditional car manufacturers. “And that’s all before we bring into the conversation Musk’s political views and comments that don’t resonate with many Californians,” particularly his original customer base of Bay Area drivers, Maas said.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.

Why is Tesla stock soaring?

Still, Tesla is in a tailspin this week, surging 22% after a raucous earnings and earnings report fueled its strongest performance since 2013. This is due in part to Tesla’s report that its 80,000 USD per piece, Cybertruck turned a profit for the first time. The meeting was sent by Musk personal wealth rose another $34 billion, bringing his fortune to $270.3 billion in one day.

And Musk hinted that Tesla has more innovation in store. This month, Tesla announced an unmanned robot taxi called the Cybercab and a fully autonomous Robovan with plenty of room for a family. On Wednesday, Musk confirmed that the robot taxi had made its first flights under the auspices of Tesla employees on the streets of San Francisco. The world’s richest man said on an earnings call that other car companies will be at risk if they don’t focus on autonomy like Tesla is doing.

“A lot of car companies, or most car companies, haven’t internalized this, which is surprising because we’ve been shouting it from the rooftops for so long, and it’s going to hurt them going forward,” Musk said.

The Tesla Model Y remains the best-selling car in California year-to-date, according to CNCDA. In addition, Tesla is the second best-selling brand in California after Toyota. Additionally, the Model Y competes in the hot SUV/crossover segment that dominates the market. The Model 3 competes in a shrinking passenger car segment, where sales fell 13.1% and SUVs rose 3.4%. The Model Y sold nearly three times as much as the Model 3.

It remains to be seen whether that future could be threatened by Musk’s political leanings. His strong political stance goes against the grain compared to other high-profile CEOs. Representative for JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, for example, issued a refusal Dimon endorsed Trump this month.

Overall, this trend has continued for most of this election season. However, talk of workplace politics is likely to increase in the next few weeks as votes roll in and workers head to the polls in November.

This was announced by Kate Duchesne, CEO of global professional services firm RGP Fortune that since the pandemic, people have mixed their personal and professional worlds even more, so more conversations are probably inevitable.

“It’s becoming increasingly difficult for any company to keep political conversations out of the workplace,” said Duchesne, who advises 70 percent of the Fortune 500. weeks When it comes to political discussions, diversity of opinion should be welcomed in the workplace, as long as all parties are professional and respectful.”

This story was originally presented on Fortune.com