Tesla shareholders have previously voiced concerns about CEO Elon Musk’s public activities, which have sometimes hurt the business, and Tesla’s stock price has become even more volatile since the CEO’s rapprochement with Donald Trump. Tesla’s sales in Europe fell 45% in January, while the region’s overall electric vehicle market grew 37%.
Image Source: Tesla
On Tuesday of this week, Tesla shares fell 8% in price under the influence of several factors at once. Since the beginning of the year, they have fallen 25%, losing almost all the gains made after Donald Trump won the US presidential election last November. Elon Musk, who has thrown himself headlong into politics, began to quickly make enemies not only in the US, but also in Germany, where he tried to influence the outcome of the parliamentary elections. Tesla’s capitalization eventually fell below the $1 trillion mark and is now at its lowest level since November 7 last year. Musk’s personal wealth has decreased by more than $100 billion, although he still has assets worth $380 billion, which allows him to be considered the richest person on the planet.
Image source: Bloomberg, European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association
In January, sales of Tesla electric vehicles in Germany fell by 45% year-on-year, although the European market as a whole showed a 37% increase in sales of vehicles with this type of powertrain. However, the impact of Musk’s political activity in this case should not be overestimated. Firstly, buyers of electric vehicles in Germany have recently been unable to claim subsidies, which has slowed down the pace of the transition to electric traction among the local population. Secondly, locally produced Tesla vehicles remain the most profitable to buy in Germany, and the assembly lines of the plant near Berlin were partially idle in January due to re-equipment in preparation for the release of the restyled version of the Model Y.
Incidentally, in the US, cases of vandalism at Tesla electric car sales points have become more frequent, since the most radical public associates the brand’s products with Elon Musk’s political activities. In addition, one of the owners of a Tesla Cybertruck pickup faced aggression on the streets of his city and thought about changing the car. Having contacted Tesla with an offer to hand over the pickup under the trade-in program, he was refused, since the automaker does not accept the Cybertruck as part of a new purchase.
Investors’ disappointment was also fueled by a wave of criticism after a stripped-down version of FSD hit the Chinese market. This suite of technologies allows Tesla electric cars to drive themselves under certain conditions. The system was first available in China, but only on city streets. Chinese customers were unhappy with the quality of the “autopilot” because rival automakers offer more advanced systems on the local market, sometimes at no extra cost, while Tesla charges $8,800 for the option.
Tesla’s development of autopilot in China is hampered by restrictions on data transfer between the US and China. As a result, the company was forced to train neural networks using images of Chinese streets obtained from third-party sources, rather than from the on-board cameras of its own cars. The company is required to store video footage from Chinese Teslas in a data center in Shanghai, but its computing power is insufficient to effectively train neural networks, and transferring this data to the US is prohibited by law.