Ever wonder how Tesla can keep making so many mistakes and breaking so many promises and still do well? Brand loyalty, apparently. S&P Global Mobility announced the winners of its 30th annual Automotive Loyalty Awards earlier this year, and Tesla was one of the clear standouts.

Tesla won three awards for 2025, including “Overall Loyalty to Make,” “Highest Conquest %,” and “Ethnic Loyalty to Make.” This is the fourth year Tesla has won “Overall Loyalty to Make” with S&P Global Mobility. The results are based on an analysis of 13.6 million new vehicle registrations in the United States, highlighting Americans who buy from the same automaker.

“For 30 years, this analysis has provided a fact-based measure of brand health, and this year’s results are particularly telling,” said Joe LaFeir, President of Mobility Business Solutions at S&P Global Mobility. “The data shows the market is not rewarding just one type of strategy. Instead, we see sustained, high-level performance from manufacturers with broad portfolios. In the current market, retaining customers remains a critical performance indicator for the industry.”

The competition was close, according to the study, but Tesla won again. Asian and Hispanic households in the United States are especially loyal to the brand. According to S&P Global Mobility, it retains American buyers with “targeted market appeal and consistent disruption.” I think there are a few other things at play here.

Throughout the years, Tesla enthusiasts have spoken out about their love for the automaker and its models. A recent study showed that 99% of Tesla Model 3 owners would recommend the car to their family and friends, while 98% said they’d buy one again. Someone said a few years ago: “I may be in a Tesla for life. I love almost everything about my Model 3. The biggest problem for me is suspension/ride comfort. Not seats, they are comfortable. The new Model 3 fixes this with upgraded suspension, road noise, etc. can only imagine future improvements physically and technologically.” 

But here’s the thing… There were barely any improvements between that sentiment and now. Two years. Tesla is notorious for barely changing its models. The upgrades to the Model 3 have been very minimal, barely noticeable. Same for every other model. But that’s the thing: I think Tesla enthusiasts keep believing these promises rather than focusing on the present. And they’re willing to invest in this future that Elon Musk keeps promising.

Recently, someone uncovered a blog post from 2016 that claimed HW3 would give Tesla drivers fully autonomous capabilities. That clearly never happened. We’ve seen Full Self-Driving mode get investigated and sued consistently over Musk’s misleading claims, leading many to question the safety of Tesla vehicles. However, Tesla fans spent this entire past decade standing up for Tesla, saying that Musk simply meant it was coming eventually, not that it was happening now. Even if that were the case (which it’s not), this means Musk was selling products based on possible future capabilities rather than true functionality. Meaning people paid for something they never got. When Musk finally admitted that HW3 was nowhere near capable of autonomous driving, the Tesla fans still found ways to forgive him. It’s totally okay he also promoted the concept of a blind man using FWD, even though he knew it was nowhere near capable. That’s fine.

And that’s how it’s always been. Tesla fans believed the Cybertruck was bulletproof. That was disproved right in front of their eyes and they still defended the entire thing. They were promised a cheaper Cybertruck, and they got a cruddy RWD version nobody wanted. That was somehow fine. Musk promised a second-generation Roadster about a decade ago. It kept getting delayed, and Tesla fans felt it was because the brand was just working on something extremely amazing, even though Musk later claimed the car would be able to “fly” with SpaceX tech. That’s okay. That’s fine.

The promises and lies are endless. It’s honestly overwhelming. This doesn’t even include Tesla hiding its crash data and other telling information. And through it all, Tesla fans have not batted an eye. They’re all over X saying how amazing Full Self-Driving mode is. That they’d proudly let it take over for them despite all the evidence saying not to. They are constantly defending Tesla, giving it excuses for having horrible battery degradation and poor build quality. There is always a reason this is fine. And it’s usually this: Elon Musk said it’d be better later!

I think this is where the brand loyalty lies. Tesla was one of the pioneers of the electric vehicle segment. People felt it was innovative and exciting. They believed in what Tesla was selling. It’s hard to accept that the technology hasn’t really advanced as needed and that the same quality issues persist. The vehicles have barely changed. Let me guess: they’ll change eventually! Musk is deliberately holding back to save money, then releasing something amazing that will blow your mind and make the decade of mediocrity worth it!

It’s this hope for a future Musk keeps promising that keeps Tesla fans loyal. Sunken cost fallacy: don’t give up now; it’s right around the corner. If I sell my Model Y now, I may miss the moment when Tesla finally releases a Full Self-Driving mode that works as intended!

Meanwhile, newer electric vehicle brands haven’t established themselves (or had wild promises) just yet. Rivian’s brand loyalty rating in the United States is 28.6% and Lucid’s is 57.9%, compared to Tesla’s 61.1%. But as Tesla continues to drop the ball and other EV brands keep pushing to appeal to Americans, I think the loyalty gap will close. Or maybe even swap. If EV owners can look past their strange obsession with Musk, I think they’d see that other EV brands have their actual interests in mind.

Well, as Tesla slowly stops producing passenger cars, they may have no choice.