Musk is going to interfere more with Tesla and seems to collapse for criticism from investors

At almost every company, the news that the CEO wants to do something else two days a week would be poorly received. At Tesla it mainly caused relief on Wednesday.

On Tuesday evening, at the presentation of dramatic quarterly figures, Elon Musk announced that he wants to spend more time on his job at Tesla from May. He is going to interfere less with his role as Head of Doge, the operation that the American government apparatus needs to lose weight and dismiss thousands of officials. He says he will only do that ‘one day or two a week’.

The announcement followed on the news that Tesla’s profit was more than 71 percent lower in the first quarter than in the same period a year earlier, at 409 million dollars. That was also much lower than analysts expected. The company’s price price rose more than 7 percent on Wednesday (it is still about half of a peak in mid -December).

Without proceeds from interest on the enormous mountain of Cash that Tesla has, the proceeds from investments of the company and the proceeds from the sale of emission credits to other car brands, was Even a loss left.

Musk said that « most of the work » to set up is ready. There is a team, he emphasizedThat will continue to work to get public finances in order.

Although Musk did not explicit the connection, he seems to give in to an increasing pressure from investors and analysts who expressed fierce criticism in recent weeks. Musk seemed completely absent as Tesla’s CEO and showed virtually no interest in the brand.

‘Brand crisistornado’

In recent months it became clear that Musk was damaging the brand by so openly associating with President Trump and to lead a controversial austerity operation. Sometimes it made an almost corrupt impression: mid -March the two seemed to run a kind of car dealer on a driveway of the White House, when they praised Tesla’s for the collected press and Trump assured that he had bought two copies.

In recent months it became clear that the sales of the brand had collapsed in Europe in particular. The company himself spoke on Tuesday at the quarterly figures In a message to investors From « changing political sentiment » as one of the reasons for a lower demand for cars. Furthermore, it made little words dirty about the activities of Musk. Financial figures per continent did not share it.

The step back from Musk coincides with his growing criticism of the Trump government

Even large musk fanatics recently started criticizing the behavior of their favorite CEO. Musk has caused a « brand crisistornado, » said Ives of Investingbank Wedbush Securities, a big musk fanate for years. He called on Musk to spend more time on his car brand. « You don’t want Tesla to become a political symbol. »

It is clear that the behavior of Musk is not the only reason for the poor performance of Tesla. The company is also struggling with an outdated range of models, and these days are converting production lines on which it wants to produce a renewed model Y later this year.

The question remains to what extent a step back from Musk at Doge actually helps to solve the brand’s image problem. Musk remains politically active, and in countries like Germany the damage seems to be suffered. Here Musk performed in the election campaign of the radical-right AfD, to the horror of many Germans. Tesla only sold 2,229 cars in March.

Moreover, the time of Musk remains divided anyway. He also officially runs social medium X, space company SpaceX and a number of smaller companies.

Harmful impact

The step back from Musk also coincides with his growing criticism of the trade policy of the Trump government. Earlier this month, Musk called Leveling Architect Peter Navarro a « idiot » and « stupid than a bag of bricks. » The trade barriers that Trump raises seem to be bothering Musk from his role as an entrepreneur. On Tuesday he said about this in a conversation with analysts and investors that he will continue to work at Trump for ‘low taxes instead of high taxes, but that is all I can do’.

In the message to investors, Tesla also reported possible harmful impact of ‘rapidly changing trade policy’. The brand has the rare advantage in the car world that it can almost completely serve the American market from the United States itself. But Trump is still planning to introduce taxes on car parts on 3 May, and that would really touch Tesla. The company also pointed out that taxes can create economic uncertainty, and thereby influence the demand for cars.

In addition, Musk warned in a conversation with analysts that he may see problems with Tesla plans to make human robots. China has – not long after the announcement of American levies on Chinese products – Export restrictions entered Magnets made of rare earth metals. These are crucial for these robots, and shortages of this can bother its productionsays Musk.

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