Elon Musk’s role as a Czar that cuts the cost of President Trump and his immersion in the right policy seems to divert his attention from Tesla to a dangerous moment for the electric car company.
Tesla’s car sales decreased by 1 % last year, even when the global market for electric vehicles increased by 25 %. Mr Musk has not faced this low performance and has not offered any specific plan to rejuvenate sales. He has also not provided details of a more affordable Tesla model says he will start producing this year. In the past, Mr Musk spent months or years of promotion of vehicles before appearing in showrooms.
And she has spent much of his time since her election in Washington and Mr Trump’s home in Florida – away from Austin, Texas, where Tesla is headquartered and a factory or factory of San Francisco, where she has Factory and factory and mechanical offices.
Over the last decade, Tesla went from a racing start to upgrade the global automaker. The company sold millions of electric cars and created huge profits, forcing established automakers to invest billions of dollars to cover the difference. Tesla’s success is reflected in the price of the stock, which helped Mr Musk the richest face in the world.
But now, he seems to have lost interest in the grinding of the growth, production and sale of cars, investors and analysts say. This could have serious consequences for his company and the automotive industry, which employs millions of people worldwide.
Even before joining Trump’s administration as the head of the government’s efficiency, Mr Musk’s multiple companies had led the investors and experts of corporate governance to wonder if they were too thin. In addition to Tesla, Mr Musk controls and runs SpaceX, whose rockets carry astronauts and satellites for NASA and others. X, the social media website. and Xai, which develops artificial intelligence. And he wants to colonize Mars.
“We do not have a Managing Director who is fully focused on ensuring that Tesla remains a leader in the field of EV,” said Brad Lander, New York Inspector, who oversees the pension funds of employees who hold 1 Tesla shares worth 1 25 billion dollars.
Mr Lander said he wanted Mr Musk to stay on the Tesla Board of Directors and to resign from his duties to someone who would do the job full time. “This is not too much to ask,” Mr Lander said. “This is only the main model of shareholders’ governance in America.”
Few, if any, have ever had such a series of responsibilities, said Eric Talley, Professor of Columbia Law School who focuses on corporate governance. And while some of Mr Musk’s businesses are to benefit from his ties to the president, it is almost impossible for Mr Musk’s commercial and political interests not to clash in ways that could harm Tesla and other companies Mr. Talley said to him.
“The more you divide your faith,” Mr Talley said, “the more it will be difficult to claim that you had an indivisible faith in any company.”
Mr Musk and Tesla did not respond to e -mails looking for comments.
In the past, he and the company’s board of directors defended Mr Musk’s management for Tesla and rejected the idea that it was very thin. They have highlighted the price of the company’s shares and strong profits as proof that Tesla has not suffered because of its other commitments.
Mr Musk’s support for right -wing leaders in home and Germany, Britain, France and other countries seems to have alienated a significant number of customers.
There is evidence that Mr Musk’s political activities and the reduced presence in Tesla also mix dissatisfaction with the company.
The discontent was evident during an unusual meeting last month at the company’s offices in Palo Alto, California, where many employees redeemed their frustrations.
A senior employee who spoke at the meeting told the officials that he too was discouraged by Mr Musk’s behavior and the departure of some senior executives who had moderate influence. The Polaric positions of the Social Media of the Managing Director and the work on Trump administration led customers, urging some employees to leave and find it difficult to hire new talents to Tesla, the manager said, according to a recording of the meeting examined by The New York Times.
The executive has called on employees to focus on their work and to coordinate Mr Musk’s comments on X and other forums. “I just ignore it and think about what we are working on and is exciting for me and has an impact?” said the manager. “This is the best advice I can give on how to handle it.”
The recording was first mentioned by the Washington Post.
There are indications that at least some investors have doubts. The price of Tesla’s stock decreased by 25 % since mid -December, although it is still about 40 percent from the elections. The S&P 500 stock index increases about 6 % from the elections.
Many investors still have faith in Mr Musk. That is why Wall Street faces Tesla more than three times valuable to Toyota, the world’s largest automaker.
Optimistic investors believe that the company will develop cars that can lead themselves to most conditions. Ark Invest, an investment operation that has long rejuvenated Mr Musk’s efforts, estimates that Tesla could control half of the $ 10 trillion for autonomous services.
“I see a trail for Tesla being the most valuable company in the world by far,” Mr Musk said in January. Growth, he added, will “be overwhelmingly due to autonomous vehicles and autonomous humanoid robots”.
What Mr Musk appeared amazingly indifferent is Tesla’s largest business today: the sale of cars.
During a teleconference last month to discuss the results of Tesla’s fourth quarter, a financial analyst asked him to process his plans to sell more cars to benefit from Tesla’s competitive advantage in technology that allows cars in some Cases to direct, accelerate and slow down their own. Mr Musk said he did not understand the question and said the company already had millions of cars on the road.
The company has lost its market share in BYD in China. BMW and Volkswagen in Europe. Both Hyundai and General Motors in the United States. Some Tesla guides such as musician Sheryl Crow are so upset by Mr Musk’s political activities that sell their cars or say they will no longer buy.
In January Tesla’s sales decreased by 59 % in Germany, 63 % in France and 12 % in Britain, after Mr Musk approved right -wing politicians and made inflammatory statements in the social media. Tesla sales decreased by 12 % last year in California, which represents almost one -third of electric cars sold in the United States.
“Hate is real,” Ross Gerber, chief executive of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, wrote in a X position along with a photo of a Cybertruck that someone was distorted with a shock.
But the political blowback is not the only problem of the company.
Tesla remains dependent on two vehicles, Model 3 and U model, for 95 % of its sales. Byd has more than twelve electric models, some that cost much less than $ 20,000. Model 3 starts at $ 42,000 in the United States before taking into account a $ 7,500 federal tax credit.
Car experts say Tesla needs a cheaper car badly to revive sales. But last year, Mr Musk delayed indefinitely plans to build a low -cost car in Mexico’s Monterrey, which will cost $ 25,000.
The company has promised to start producing a new model in its existing factories by the end of June, but has not presented an original or details. Analysts expect it to be based on model 3 and cost much more than $ 25,000.
“You would think they would double and try to take advantage of their leads to other players,” said Michael Lenox, a business professor at the University of Virginia. “Is the question,” added, “has there been a lack of attention?”
Some investors said that Mr Musk’s lack of interest in selling cars was evident in how little he said about Mr Trump’s initiatives that could hurt Tesla’s sales.
Ford’s CEO Jim Farley said last week that some of Mr Trump’s plans to abolish Biden’s motives for electric cars could force the company to dismiss employees. But Mr Musk didn’t say anything publicly about them.
In particular, environmentalists are very concerned that Mr Musk, who once talked about electric vehicles as a solution for climate change, has complied with climate change.
“It is really about that Elon focuses more on DC than on promoting EV production,” said Katherine Garcia, director of net transportation for all the Sierra Club campaigns.
Mr Musk argued that electric cars do not need government incentives. “You cannot stop the arrival of electric cars,” Mr Musk said in January. “It will happen.”
