Capital Economy, Business and Finance
When Elon Musk sided with Trump and bet a large part of his farm on the gargantuan Tesla Cybertruck, the best gloss analysts could put on it was that he would gain more customers in red-state America than he lost in blue.
This hasn’t happened.
Revenues were down 9 per cent and profits an astonishing 71 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025 as Chinese rivals outsold Tesla with cheaper electric cars and Teslas became lightning rods for anti-Musk protest.
The Economist asks: can Tesla recover? The markets seem to think it can.
The moment Musk said he was going to spend less time demanding US government spending cuts and more running his car company, its stock gained 5 per cent.
Tesla owners are getting self-conscious nonetheless.
Spotted on a Model 3 in London: a ‘Vintage Tesla’ sticker with the note: ‘pre-madness edition’.
Photo credit: Toru Hanai/Bloomberg via Getty Images
