Tesla Politically, CEO Elon Musk is firmly on the side of former President Donald Trump, but what a possible Trump administration could mean for the electric vehicle maker that pays Musk billions is unclear – not even Musk himself.
While a conversation with financial analysts on Tuesday, Wells Fargo Director Colin Langan asked Musk to explain the impact of a Trump victory and the possible destruction of a $7,500 federal tax credit for electric vehicles.
“I guess it would have an impact,” Musk said. “It would be devastating for our competitors and would hurt Tesla slightly.”
The CEO also noted that Tesla would withdraw its investments in a planned factory because Trump announced high tariffs on vehicles produced in Mexico. in Monterrey in 2026“If that is the case, we will have to wait and see how things develop politically,” he said. Yesterday, Musk said refused reports that he would pump $45 million into Trump’s election campaign every month.
Speaking of CNBC before the profit discussion, Dan Ives, technical analyst at Wedbush Securities said that a Trump presidency could have a negative impact on the entire EV market, as Trump Inflation Reduction Act and with it the Tax breaks for electric vehicles and certain plug-in hybrids. This would mean that an administration under Kamala Harris, the likely Democratic Party candidate, could have a positive impact on the electric vehicle industry.
Still, Trump may be better suited to implement the regulatory agenda needed to promote autonomous driving and car autonomy, a key part of Tesla’s growth strategy, Ives said.
“Musk was just background noise under the Biden administration, and will that be more prominent under a Trump administration?” Ives asked. “So I would say Tesla is part of that Trump deal.”
Musk dismissed the notion that regulators would shy away from a fleet of self-driving robot taxis without steering wheels and pedals from Tesla. One analyst asked Musk to explain why regulatory risk was not an issue for Tesla when General Motors had stopped production of his Origin vehicle without a steering wheel in favor of his Chevrolet Bolt, partly due to regulation. The Cruise Origin autonomous vehicle would need to be approved by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration because it does not have traditional manual controls such as a steering wheel and pedals required by current safety regulations and is designed for cars with human drivers, not fully autonomous vehicles.
“The main reason for switching from Origin to Bolt is to eliminate the regulatory risk,” said GM CEO Mary Barra, according to a Reuters Report.
“The real reason they canceled it is because GM can’t make it work,” Musk said, adding that the automaker’s technology was “not up to scratch.” He said blaming regulators was “misleading.”
Jim Cain, an executive director at GM, said Assets Musk is completely wrong.
“All of these statements are categorically false,” said Cain, who listened to Musk’s comments during the conference call. “The Origin vehicle had to overcome many hurdles to get approved because it has no steering wheel, no brake pedal and a unique seating arrangement that requires a federal motor vehicle safety exemption – period.”
Cain said Cruise’s technology is improving every day because it uses artificial intelligence to leverage its data sets. “And so far they’ve driven more than 5 million miles fully autonomously, whereas Tesla has driven exactly zero.”
Musk has an unwavering belief in Tesla’s ability to “solve the autonomy problem,” which he reiterated on Tuesday, even as Tesla reported financial results Net profit fell 45%, marking the second quarter of sluggish growth and the fourth consecutive quarter of declining quarterly profits. Auto industry data also showed that Tesla continues to lose popularity in California, where Sales fell by 24% in the second quarter. Meanwhile Trump has promised to put an end to what he called the “green new scam” and promised to abolish “the electric vehicle requirement on day one”.
If autonomy is Tesla’s strategic future, Ives said it might be more beneficial for Tesla to have less regulation, which would be more likely under a Trump presidency than a Harris presidency.
The “icing on the cake” for investors is how the company will impact the robotics market and how it handles its efforts toward fully autonomous driving and autonomy, Ives said. Ultimately, this could potentially give the company a valuation of $1 trillion or even $2 trillion, he added.