Musk wants to be more Tesla boss instead of Trump’s cost lower

Tech billionaire Elon Musk introduces the retreat from Washington. From May, he would spend less time as a cost lower of President Donald Trump in the government apparatus, said the Tesla boss. Instead, he will take care of the interests of the electric car manufacturer again. Tesla previously reported a decline in sales and a drop in profits for the past quarter.

Musk does not want to disappear from the orbit of the US President. He wanted to continue to deal with government tasks over one to two days a week – at least as long as Trump wants that. Otherwise, waste and fraud that were contained under his participation would come back, Musk said.

Trump donor

Last year Musk became a close ally of Trump, whom he donated more than $ 250 million for the election campaign for the White House. As President, Trump commissioned him to reduce government expenditure. The political activities and right positions made Musk more unpopular – and that also hit Tesla.

Analyst Dan Ives from Wedbush Securities, who long expressed himself very optimistically about the future of Tesla, estimates that the damage to the brand by Musk’s brand could permanently push the Tesla demand by 15 to 20 percent. In a survey by the US economic station CNBC, around 50 percent were negative about muscle – and more than 47 percent also had a negative attitude to Tesla. In the first quarter, Tesla’s deliveries fell by 13 percent.

Millions of self -driving Teslas?

Musk announces, however, that self -driving cars would secure the future of Tesla. At the end of June, a robotaxi service in Austin Texas is scheduled to start. First of all, 10 to 20 vehicles of the compact SUV Model Y should be used-the production of a Tesla robot taxis without a steering wheel and pedals is only announced for 2026. In the event of problems, Tesla wants to use remote control.

Musk position is that a lot of Tesla vehicles already have everything necessary to be a self-driving car. The function for autonomous driving in several US cities is also wanted to unlock this year for private individuals. Then you will be able to let yourself go to the destination there, he said. Musk had already promised this within two years.

Skepticism in the industry

Industry experts and competitors have been expressing great doubts about Musk’s self -driving cars for years. One of the reasons: Musk insists that it can only be achieved with cameras and AI software without relying on the rivals like the Google sister company Waymo. Musk’s approach is significantly cheaper, but critics warn that cameras alone do not offer enough security.

Other manufacturers categorically refuse to send autonomous cars to the street only with cameras. BMW development board member Frank Weber recently released: « For us, this is completely clear that this is not possible. » For example, a camera would not see a palette that was on the road in front of the car, he argued on the edge of the CES Technik Mass in January.

Musk keeps loophole open

The dilemma for Waymo: The driverless robotaxis of the company are successful in several cities, but the high costs of the vehicles mean that it is more difficult to make money with it. Musk therefore claimed that the price advantage Tesla will secure a market share of more than 90 percent in the robotaxi market in a short time. He also expressly denied that bright sunlight could blind the cameras.

At the same time, the Tesla boss restricted that the large autonomy plans could still be blocked by the « regulatory situation ». In the past, US traffic authorities have not hesitated to suspend permissions for self-driving cars in the event of problems.

Clock for Musk in Washington ticked anyway

Musk formally went to Washington as a « special government agent ». You can have this status for a maximum of 130 days, so his time in the US capital should actually take place at the end of May. On the other hand, the duration can extend if you are active part -time.

Musk’s position in the Trump environment has already been weakened in the past few weeks, especially after he threw his weight in the election campaign for an important judge post in the state of Wisconsin – and the candidate of the Republicans supported by him.

The tech billionaire also said that he had already achieved great success in the cost reduction. He also claimed that the protests against him and Tesla were organized by those who had previously been enriched by fraud on state costs.

Burglary of profits of 71 percent

Shortly before the announcement, Tesla reported significant declines in sales and profits. The revenues fell by nine percent in the year to a good $ 19.3 billion. The bottom line was that profit collapsed by 71 percent to $ 409 million.

With the numbers, Tesla missed the expectations of the analysts. They had expected an average of $ 21 billion in sales. In the adjusted profit per share, Tesla came to $ 0.27, while an average of $ 0.39 was expected on the market.

At the same time, Tesla confirmed that the production of cheaper model variants should begin in the first half of 2025. However, it became clear that you will see the current vehicles like Model Y and Model 3.

According to Musk’s announcements, the share in post -market trade increased by more than five percent.

Less cars delivered

The results are not surprising: Tesla’s deliveries fell by 13 percent to 336,681 vehicles in the first quarter. It is difficult to determine how strongly individual reasons contributed to the decline. In addition to the controversy around Musk, a factor of switching to a renewed generation of the bestseller Model Y should be.

Tesla converted the production lines at the beginning of the year. For this, production paused for a few weeks. At the same time, pricing prospective customers were less to buy a vehicle of the previous Y variant.