Tesla shares are up more than 20% this May, putting the stock on track for its strongest monthly close since the final days of January, according to data from CNBC.
But the price rally comes at a time when the company is facing serious issues in its two biggest overseas markets and its CEO is under growing pressure to focus on the company’s problems instead of politics.
The company’s CEO, Elon Musk, promised during Tesla’s latest earnings call that he’s stepping away from his role at the Department of Government Efficiency—also known as DOGE—by the end of May.
President Donald Trump’s statement on Truth Social said, “This will be his last day, but not really, because he will, always, be with us, helping all the way.”
Elon confirmed that while he’s cutting back, he still plans to spend “a day or two per week” working with Trump until the end of the term, and said at a press event on Friday that he will continue to advise the president and keep an office inside the White House.
“If there’s anything the president wants me to do, I’m at the president’s service,” Elon said in the Oval Office. He added that DOGE will eventually reduce “a trillion dollars of waste and fraud,” even without him, as it is just getting started
Tesla sales tank in Europe and China while protests grow
While shares are climbing, Tesla’s car sales are going the opposite direction. In Europe, sales dropped by 50% year-over-year in April. And in China, one of the most important EV markets, Tesla’s numbers were down 25% year-over-year over the first eight weeks of the current quarter.
These figures come at a time when competitors like Waymo, owned by Alphabet, have been moving ahead. Waymo recently crossed 10 million paid, driverless rides in the US, while Tesla’s long-promised robotaxi program remains on pause.
Adding to the heat, Elon’s political connections are stirring backlash. The company has faced public protests tied to Elon’s support of Trump and his endorsement of Germany’s far-right AfD party. Internal pressure is building too.
A group of pension fund leaders recently sent a letter to Robyn Denholm, Tesla’s board chair, slamming what they called a leadership “crisis.” They demanded that Elon be required to work a minimum of 40 hours a week on Tesla.
“Tesla’s stock price volatility, declining sales, as well as disconcerting reports regarding the company’s human rights practices, and a plummeting global reputation are cause for serious concern,” the letter read. They also blamed much of the company’s recent struggles on Elon’s close relationship with Trump.
Despite the sales drop, Elon told CNBC’s David Faber that Tesla would start with a small fleet of Model Y Tesla vehicles equipped with the company’s newest, Unsupervised Full Self Driving hardware and software.
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