Elon Musk’s role as Czar to reduce President Trump’s cost and his immersion in right -wing politics seems to be distracting his attention from Tesla at a dangerous moment for the electric car company.
Tesla car sales fell 1 percent last year even when the global market for electric vehicles rose 25 percent. Mr. Musk has not addressed that subformation and he has not provided any concrete plans to revive sales. He has also provided details about a more affordable model Tesla says he will start producing this year. In the past, Mr. Musk spent months or years promoting vehicles before appearing in the exhibition room.
And he has spent most of his time since elections in Washington and Mr. Trump’s home in Florida – away from Austin, Texas, where Tesla has its corporate headquarters and a factory, or San’s bay area Francisco, where there is a factory and engineering offices.
In the last decade, Tesla went from a fighting start to increase the global vehicle industry. The company sold millions of electric cars and generated large profits, forcing automobiles set to invest billions of dollars to catch. Tesla’s success is reflected in his stock price, which helped Mr. Musk’s richest person in the world.
But now, he seems to have lost interest in the heavy business of development, production and sales of cars, say investors and analysts. This can have serious consequences for its company and the vehicle industry, which employs millions of people worldwide.
Even before joining the Trump administration as head of the Government Efficiency Department, the leadership of many Mr. Musk’s companies had made investors and corporate governance experts ask if it had spread very thin. In addition to Tesla, Mr. Musk controls and directs Spacex, whose missiles hold astronauts and satellites for NASA and others; X, social media site; and Xai, which is developing artificial intelligence. And he wants to colonize Mars.
“We do not have a CEO which is fully focused on ensuring that Tesla remains a leader in the EV space,” said Brad Lander, the New York City controller, who oversees the employee pension funds that own Tesla worth 1.25 billion dollars.
Mr. Lander said he wanted Mr. Musk to stay aboard Tesla and give up his executive tasks for someone who would do the full -time job. “That’s not a lot to ask,” said Mr. Lander. “This is just the basic model of shareholder governance in America.”
Little, if any, the leaders have ever had such a group of responsibilities, said Eric Talley, a professor of the Columbia law school who focuses on corporate governance. And while some of Mr. Musk’s businesses have to do with his links to the president, it is virtually impossible for Mr Musk’s trade and political interests not to collide in ways that can damage Tesla and other companies, said Mr. Talley.
“The more you share your loyalty,” Mr. Talley said, “the more it will be difficult to pretend that you have had inseparable loyalty to any company.”
Mr. Musk and Tesla did not respond to electronic posts that required comment.
In the past, he and the company board have protected Mr. Musk’s management of Tesla and rejected the idea that he had spread very thin. They have shown the price of the company’s stock and strong profits as evidence that Tesla has not suffered because of his other commitments.
Mr. Musk’s support for right -wing managers at home and Germany, Britain, France and other countries seem to have alienated a significant number of customers.
There are signs that Mr. Musk’s political activities and the reduced presence in Tesla are fueling dissatisfaction within the company.
Dissatisfaction was evident during an unusual meeting last month at the company offices in Palo Alto, Calif., Where many employees shared their disappointments.
A senior executive who spoke at the meeting told employees that he was also discouraged by Mr. Musk’s “Mercury” behavior and the departure of some old leaders who had been a moderate influence. Chief Executive Officer of Social Media Polarizing posts and Trump administration work was removing clients, making some employees leave and make it more difficult to recruit new talent in Tesla, the manager said, according New from the new York Times.
The executive urged employees to focus on their work and allocate Mr Musk’s comments on X and other forums. “I just ignore it and think about what we are working on and is it exciting for me and is there an impact?” said the manager. “This is the best advice I can give how to treat it.”
Registration was first reported by Washington Post.
There are signs that at least some investors have doubts as well. Tesla’s action has fallen 25 percent since mid -December, although it is still about 40 percent since the election. The S&P 500 stock index has increased about 6 percent since elections.
Many investors still have confidence in Mr. Musk. That is why Wall Street treats Tesla as more than three times more valuable than Toyota, the largest automobile in the world.
Optimistic investors believe the company will develop cars that can drive themselves under most conditions. Ark Invest, an investment firm that has long been strong for Mr Musk’s efforts, estimates that Tesla can control half of a $ 10 trillion market for autonomous travel services.
“I see a path for Tesla to be the most valuable company in the world so far,” said Mr. Musk in January. The growth, he added, “would be overwhelmingly due to autonomous vehicles and autonomous humanoid robots.”
What Mr. Musk has strangely appeared dissatisfied is Tesla’s biggest business today: sales of cars.
During a conference call last month to discuss the results of the fourth quarter of Tesla, a financial analyst asked him to elaborate on his plans to sell more cars to take advantage of Tesla’s competitive advantage that allows cars in some cases to direct, accelerate and slow down. 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; and Hyundai and General Motors in the United States. Some tesla drivers like musician Sheryl Crow are so upset by Mr. Musk’s political activities that they are selling their cars or say they will not buy another.
In January Tesla sales were down 59 percent in Germany, 63 percent in France and 12 percent in Britain after Mr. Musk approved right -wing politicians and made inflammatory statements on social media. Tesla sales fell 12 percent last year in California, which is nearly one -third of the electric cars sold in the United States.
“Hate is true,” wrote Ross Gerber, Gerber’s chief executive Kawasaki Wealth and Management Investment, in a post x along with a photo of a cybertruck that someone had protected with a darkness.
But political return is not the only problem of the company.
Tesla remains dependent on two vehicles, model 3 and model Y, for 95 percent of its sales. Byd has more than a dozen electric models, some cost much less than $ 20,000. Model 3 starts at $ 42,000 in the United States before taking into account a federal tax loan of $ 7,500.
Vehicle experts say Tesla needs a cheaper car to revitalize sales. But last year, Mr. Musk delayed plans for an indefinite time to build a low -cost car in Monterrey, Mexico, which would 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 displayed a prototype or provided 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 the direction they have on other players,” said Michael Lenox, a business professor at the University of Virginia. “This raises the question,” he added, “has there been a lack of attention?”
Some investors said Mr. Musk’s lack of interest in selling cars was visible in how little he had said about Mr. Trump’s initiatives that could hurt Tesla’s sales.
Ford’s chief executive Jim Farley said last week that some of Mr. Trump’s plans to abolish the Biden era stimuli for electric cars could force the company to rest workers. But Mr. Musk has not said anything publicly about them.
In particular, environmentalists are very concerned that Mr. Musk, who once spoke of electric vehicles as a climate change solution, has allied himself with the deniers of climate change.
“Really really worrying that Elon is more focused on DC than on advancing EV production,” said Katherine Garcia, a clean transport director for the entire campaign in Sierra Club.
Mr. Musk has argued that electric cars do not need government stimuli. “You can’t stop the arrival of electric cars,” said Mr. Musk in January. “It will happen.”