Elon Musk focuses on Doge. What about Tesla?

The role of Elon Musk as cost of the cost of president Trump and his immersion in right -wing policy seem to divert his attention as Tesla at a dangerous time for the electric car company.

Tesla car sales fell 1 percent last year, even when the global electric vehicle market grew by 25 percent. Mr. Musk has not addressed that low performance, and has not offered any specific plan to revive sales. Nor has it provided details about a more affordable model that Tesla says it will begin to produce this year. In the past, Mr. Musk spent months or years promoting vehicles before they appeared in the exhibition rooms.

And much of his time has passed since the elections in Washington and in Trump's house in Florida, far from Austin, Texas, where Tesla has its corporate headquarters and a factory, or the area of ​​the San Francisco Bay, where he has A factory and engineering offices.

In the last decade more or less, Tesla went from a new company with difficulties to replace the global automotive industry. The company sold millions of electric cars and generated huge profits, which forced the manufacturers of established cars to invest billions of dollars to catch up. Tesla's success has been reflected in its high price of shares, which helped Mr. Musk be the richest person in the world.

But now, it seems to have lost interest in the routine business of developing, producing and selling cars, according to investors and analysts. That could have serious ramifications for your company and the automotive industry, which uses millions of people worldwide.

Even before the Trump administration was joined as head of the Government's efficiency department, companies of multiple Musk companies had led investors and experts in corporate governance to wonder if it was extended too much. In addition to Tesla, Mr. Musk controls and directs Spacex, whose rockets carry astronauts and satellites for NASA and others; x, the social media site; and XAI, who is developing artificial intelligence. And wants to colonize Mars.

“We do not have a CEO that is completely focused on ensuring that Tesla remains a leader in the EV space,” said Brad Lander, the backward of New York City, which supervises the pension funds of employees who have actions of Tesla worth $ 1.25 billion.

Mr. Lander said he wanted Mr. Musk to stay at the Tesla Board and renounce his executive duties to someone who would do full -time work. “That's not too much to ask,” Lander said. “That is just the basic government model of shareholders in the United States.”

Few, if anyone, executives have had a wide variety of responsibilities, said Eric Talley, professor at the Columbia Law Faculty that focuses on corporate governance. And although some of Mr. Musk's businesses will benefit from their ties with the president, it is practically impossible for the commercial and political interests of Mr. Musk not to collide so that he can damage Tesla and his other companies, Talley said.

“The more his loyalty divides,” said Mr. Talley, “the more it will be difficult to affirm that he has an undivided loyalty to any company.”

Mr. Musk and Tesla did not respond to the emails looking for comments.

In the past, he and the company's board defended the management of Mr. Musk of Tesla and dismissed the idea that he was extended too much. They have indicated the high price of the company's shares and solid profits as evidence that Tesla has not suffered due to their other commitments.

The support of Mr. Musk to right -wing leaders at home and in Germany, Great Britain, France and other countries seems to have alienated a significant number of customers.

There are signs that Mr. Musk's political activities and the reduced presence in Tesla are also agitating dissatisfaction within the company.

The discontent was evident during an unusual meeting last month at the company's offices in Palo Alto, California, where numerous employees generated their frustrations.

A superior executive who spoke at the meeting told employees that he was also discouraged by the “mercurial” behavior of Mr. Musk and the departure of some high executives that had been a moderating influence. The polarizing publications of the social networks of the Executive Director and the work in the Trump administration were moving the clients, which caused some employees to go and make it difficult to recruit new talents to Tesla, the manager said, according to an audio recording of the Meeting reviewed by the New York Times.

The executive urged employees to focus on their work and disconnect the comments of Mr. Musk in x and other forums. “I simply ignore it and think about what we are working on and it's exciting for me and is it having an impact?” The manager said. “That is the best advice I can give about how to handle it.”

The recording was first reported by the Washington Post.

There are signs that at least some investors also have doubts. The price of Tesla shares has fallen by 25 percent since mid -December, although approximately 40 percent have increased from the elections. The S&P 500 shares index has increased approximately 6 percent from the election.

Many investors still have faith in Mr. Musk. That is why Wall Street treats Tesla as more than three times more valuable than Toyota, the world's largest car manufacturer.

Optimistic investors believe that the company will develop cars that can be promoted in most conditions. Ark Invest, an investment firm that has been optimistic about Mr. Musk's efforts, estimates that Tesla could control half of an estimated $ 10 billion market for autonomous transport services.

“I see a path for Tesla to be the most valuable company in the world by far,” Musk said in January. The growth, he added, “was overwhelmingly due to autonomous autonomous humanoid vehicles.”

What Mr. Musk has seemed surprisingly carefree is the largest business of Tesla today: the sale of cars.

During a telephone conference last month to discuss the results of the fourth quarter of Tesla, a financial analyst asked him to prepare his plans to sell more cars to take advantage of Tesla's competitive advantage in technology that allows cars in some cases to accelerate, Accelerate and decrease speed. His. Musk said he didn't understand the question and said the company already had millions of cars on the road.

The company has lost market share of Byd in China; BMW and Volkswagen in Europe; and Hyundai and General Motors in the United States. Some Tesla pilots as the musician Sheryl Crow are so upset by Mr. Musk's political activities that are selling their cars or saying that they will not buy another.

In January, Tesla sales fell 59 percent in Germany, 63 percent in France and 12 percent in Britain after Musk backed the right -wing politicians and made inflammatory statements on social networks. Tesla sales fell 12 percent last year in California, which represents almost a third of electric cars sold in the United States.

“Hate is real,” Ross Gerber, executive director of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, wrote, in an x post along with a photo of a cyberrtruck that someone had disfigured with an obscenity.

But political setback is not the only problem of the company.

Tesla continues to depend on two vehicles, model 3 and the model and, for 95 percent of its sales. Byd has more than a dozen electric models, some that cost much less than $ 20,000. Model 3 starts at $ 42,000 in the United States before taking into account a federal tax credit of $ 7,500.

Automobile experts say that Tesla needs a cheaper car to relive sales. But last year, Mr. Musk indefinitely delayed building a low -cost car in Monterrey, Mexico, which would have cost $ 25,000.

The company has promised to start producing a new model in its existing factories at the end of June, but has not shown a prototype or has provided details. Analysts expect it to be based on model 3 and costs much more than $ 25,000.

“One would think they would double and try to capitalize on the leadership they have in other players,” said Michael Lenox, a business professor at the University of Virginia. “The question arises,” he added, “Has there a lack of attention?”

Some investors said that Mr. Musk's lack of interest in selling cars was evident in how little he had said about Trump's initiatives that could damage Tesla's sales.

Ford executive director Jim Farley said last week that some of Trump's plans to repeal the incentives of the Biden era for electric cars could force the company to fire workers. But Mr. Musk has said anything publicly about them.

Environmentalists in particular are very concerned that Mr. Musk, who once spoke about electric vehicles as a solution for climate change, has allied with denials of climate change.

“It is really worrying that Elon is more focused on DC than on the progress of EV production,” said Katherine García, director of the clean transport campaign for all in the Sierra Club.

Musk has argued that electric cars do not need government incentives. “You can't stop the advent of electric cars,” Musk said in January. “It will happen.”