Can Trump save Tesla from its fall?

Tesla is in trouble with sales in decline, the stock price is dropping and protests against the brand are becoming increasingly hostile.

In a bid to stop the trauma, Tesla boss Elon Musk drafted in US President Donald Trump to do a sales pitch for the brand at the White House. In a remarkable scene the most powerful man in the world turned car salesman as Trump spruiked the benefits of the Tesla Model S – despite signing an executive order to repeal federal government tax breaks for electric vehicles on his first day back in office.

Tesla sales dropped for the first time annually in 2024, with demand for the electric cars declining at the same time Musk became more and more involved in the US political scene. Musk, the richest man in the world, contributed a reported US$288 million ($457m) to Trump’s re-election campaign and subsequently was handed his own government agency – the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Musk’s role with DOGE is to cut “fraud, waste and abuse” across the government but his mass redundancies are proving unpopular with the American public. Across America Tesla vehicles are being vandalised or destroyed, often in conjunction with anti-Musk comments, plus there have been protests at Tesla stores. And it is not just limited to the US, last week in France several Tesla vehicles were burned down in an apparent attack against the brand and Musk’s politics.

Many Tesla owners have added anti-Musk bumper stickers to try and avoid vandalism, while others have resorted to adding badges from other car companies to try and disguise their cars.

Trump’s PR stunt with Tesla came as the company’s stock fell 15 per cent at the start of the week, its biggest drop in five years. It has been seven consecutive weeks of Tesla stock decline, resulting in approximately US$800 billion of its market cap being wiped out.

While this has been happening, several key Tesla board members, including the chief financial officer, have reportedly sold a large amount of stock. Tesla CFO, Vaibhav Taneja, and Elon’s brother Kimbal Musk sold off more than US$40m worth of stock back in February. More recently Tesla chairwoman Roby Denholm sold US$33m and just this week another board member, James Murdoch, dumped US$13m worth of the brand’s stock.

Trump’s public endorsement of Tesla appears to have helped, with the stock price climbing approximately eight per cent on Tuesday in America. However, year-to-date it is still down nearly 150 per cent, so Musk may need Trump to buy a few more cars to help complete the turnaround.

What do you think – Is Tesla in trouble? Should Musk have stayed out of politics? Is it good to see politicians support car companies? – let us know your thoughts in the comments below.