by Mike Gulett –
Is it time for Elon Musk to step down as Tesla CEO? It seems his significant time spent on politics and now his US governmental duties are interfering with his Tesla duties.
His political opinions, that have come more brightly to light in recent months, have turned off quite a few customers, potential customers and investors. His politics and government work have created a resistance to buying Tesla cars among some people. There is a growing movement to boycott Tesla and publicly shaming current Tesla owners, many of who want to sell their Tesla cars but cannot because of the drop in used Tesla prices.
Musk’s political activism either had a “negative” or “extremely negative” effect on Tesla’s business, according to 85% of respondents to an informal survey of nearly 250 Morgan Stanley clients. A clear majority also anticipate a second straight decline in annual deliveries to customers.
From a article in Fortune about a survey by the Morgan Stanley auto analysts, Adam Jonas.
Tesla’s fall from grace may have no equal, says JPMorgan: ‘We struggle to think of anything analogous’
From another Fortune article.
Tesla sales revenue is down, the stock price is down and Musk does not seem to be spending much time correcting the situation. He also is the CEO of other companies like SpaceX, which takes time away from Tesla. Tesla stakeholders deserve the full time attention of their CEO.
Irony
Tesla was founded in Silicon Valley and from the beginning had the support of California customers who wanted electric vehicles to replace gas powered vehicles. These California customers bought a lot of Tesla cars and were instrumental in Tesla’s success especially in the early years.
They are the same people who are turning away from Musk now because of his political views and government activity. Musk has turned off his strongest customer base (including those like minded people who do not live in California or the USA). Is it possible for Musk to regain the support of these former customers? I doubt it.
Considering that the vast majority of Musk’s wealth is in Tesla shares one would think he would pay more attention to Tesla but it seems he may have lost interest.
Time for a change? I believe it is.
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
Tesla Share Price – 2025 Year to Date as of March 13 – from Yahoo Finance
Arrogant, ignorant, incompetent, and a thick overlay of mean spirit.
Musk has stigmatized the brand for me.
Perhaps he needs to focus more on his own companies, though historically he has not always been a benefit to the public relations side of the businesses since the beginning. I will say that what he is doing in Washington is only offensive to those feeding at the trough not the ones filling it!
I remember when Steve Jobs was ousted from Apple and it was a bad time for that company with Scully as CEO. When Steve Jobs came back and Scully was out, the visionary that Jobs was, Apple went on to bigger and better things. Musk has spread himself too thin. With the companies that he owns and now his role in the U.S. Government, his eye is off the ball with Testa. A new CEO would be in order IMO with Musk in an oversight role I think people selling their Teslas is their right of course, but short sighted if they like the cars. A statement for sure, but cutting off your nose despite your face. Might as well sell your Fords and Volkswagens while you’re at it! Henry Ford was a terrible antisemite and supporter of Hitler, and Hitler himself of course and his role in the beginnings of VW needs no explanation. I recollect seeing the first Model S Teslas on Ocean Avenue at 2012 car week in Monterey. They were and remain, very impressive automobiles. While I am an ICE guy all the way and love my Cobra, I would not hesitate to own a Tesla. Maybe I can score a great deal with all of the people offloading theirs!!
Musk aside, I would like to see a study on how much more pollution, and/or effect on the Earth EVs have compared to ICE vehicles. The same goes for unleaded fuel vs old, leaded fuel. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, we are surrounded by stary eyed greenies who drive nothing but EVs. Most of them have drank the Kool Aid, thinking that they are saving the World, and that ICE vehicles are the enemy. However, EVs continue to catch on fire with drastically toxic results. The same goes for vehicles running unleaded fuel that eats through rubber products of older vehicles, and results in many car fires. EV and unleaded caused fires aside, there is also the elephant in the room; battery production and disposal. Are we all blind to the raping of the Earth with child labor to mine the minerals? Isn’t there a war going on over these very rare earth ingredients?
Hmmm, but my EV only takes pennies a day to operate, and I can silently scoot to any destination (provided there’s a charging station, and it’s not to cold to warrant the batteries inefficient). Never mind that EVs are super heavy, and pummel our roads, and that they pay no fuel taxes to maintain or support the very roads they destroy. Elon and his EVs all need to go.