After a tumultuous period of one month by President Trump's side, Elon Musk is returning his attention to his companies, including the stumbling block of Electric Vehicles Tesla Inc.
Musk announced in X last week that his time as a special government employee was over.
Tesla's investors welcomed the news, hoping that Musk's departure from Washington will boost his company's reputation and lagged performance.
Since Musk began his role leading the White House Advisory team called the Government Efficiency Department in January, Tesla shares have fallen approximately 12%. On Tuesday, the shares closed to $ 332, 3.5%less.
The company based in Austin, Texas, which has a significant manufacturing operation in Fremont, California, and is the company Ev Dominant in the State, has been subject to protests and vandalism as Musk, the company's executive director, aligned with Trump and made cuts of controversial expenses in the name of the federal government. The brand damage extended outside the United States to Europe, where monthly sales in 32 countries fell almost 50% in April.
“It was very important that Musk ended this chapter and started working in the next stage of Tesla growth,” said Wedbush Dan Iives Securities analyst. “Now you can return to what you are supposed to be doing.”
As the Executive changes its approach to Tesla, there are four challenges that experts say that it must address:
Rebuild Tesla's reputation
By associating with the president and erratic actions of the Trump administration, Musk alienated a large strip of his clients. Many Tesla drivers are liberal inclination, they said analysts from the industry, and were attracted to the company's environmental mission to take out the gas out of the road.
In protest of Musk's activities, some Tesla drivers, including celebrities, began selling or getting rid of their vehicles. Others wore new bumper decals that said: “I bought this before knowing that Elon was crazy.”
In February, Tesla headed the list of brands that lost the value more than resale year after year, according to the data provided by Karl Brauer, an analysis of ISEECARS.com. The price of a model and model and used fell by approximately 16% in February of the previous year.
“The price is a reflection of supply and demand,” said Brauer. “Then it could be that nobody wants to buy them more, or that there is a massive influx of them available, or both.”
Now that Washington stays, Musk will have to show that his attention is in Tesla and that he is not prioritizing political agendas. IVES estimated that approximately 5% to 10% of the brand damage suffered during the Musk period in capital will be permanent.
“Tesla has become a political symbol worldwide and that is not a good thing,” said Iives, who has a “higher performance” qualification in Tesla's actions. “But there are much brighter days ahead now that Musk is no longer in the White House.”
Delivering autonomous driving technology
Musk has made high promises for years on the capabilities of technology and autonomous plans of Tesla for a Robotaxi service. Although he has often exaggerated his progress too much, Musk has taken important steps to market autonomous driving technology.
The future of your company depends on whether you can continue, experts said.
“Musk's main priority should be autonomy and robotics,” said Iives. “With these technologies, I think that Tesla market capitalization could reach $ 2 billion.” The company is currently valued in just over $ 1 billion.
According to the statements that Musk has made, Tesla drivers can one day sleep in their car, since they lead them throughout the country. Tesla Robotaxis will travel the streets of the city, and humanoid robots called Optimus will perform daily tasks.
Brauer compared the appearance of autonomous driving technology with a change in the Internet scale or smartphones. But it is still far, he said. Although the taxis company without driving Waymo is already operating in some cities, including Santa Monica, technology could take 10 to 15 years to be widely accessible and integrated into society, said Brauer.
Keep up with competition
Tesla remains the dominant force in the electric vehicle market, but the competition that rapidly increases from traditional car manufacturers and other EV manufacturers have lost sales, Brauer said.
The main manufacturers, including Ford and Chevy, have published lines of their own electric vehicles, while the new promising companies such as Rivian, based in Irvine, have reduced the Tesla market share. At the same time, the demand for electric vehicles is being filled as the market is saturated, Brauer said.
Tesla's profits collapsed from 71% in the first quarter to $ 409 million when the company faced a large number of setbacks, including a fall in automotive sales and growing competition.
To keep up and remain viable, Tesla will have to reassess aspects of your business model.
“Many people, I think that including Musk itself, they have realized that the current business model is played,” said Brauer. “It will not substantially increase your income and your profits selling these same electric cars.”
Tesla could receive an impulse in sales if I successfully launched an affordable accessible model for more customers, but despite the rumors and claims of executives, a launch date has not been announced.
The company could be more affected by the loss of a federal credit of electric vehicles of $ 7,500, which encourages sales and it is likely that the Trump administration delete.
Complete a load network
While electric vehicle loaders are omnipresent in many parts of California, infrastructure in large areas of the country, and that is a problem. In order for the United States to trust EVs more, it must be significantly advanced in the network of load stations, said Brauer.
Finding a time and a place to load is an obstacle to many Tesla drivers and limits the range of customers that Tesla can reach. The lack of a fully complete load network would also hinder Musk's plans to operate a Robotaxi service nationwide, said Brauer.
In California, many chargers are broken or have been intentionally damaged by protesters.
