Musk to reduce Doge role after Tesla profits plunge

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - WASHINGTON — Tesla boss Elon Musk says he will cut back his role in Donald Trump's administration after the company's profits and revenues plunged during the first three months of the year.

Sales slumped and the brand faced backlash as Musk became a political fixture in the White House.

On Tuesday, the firm reported a 20% drop in automotive revenue in the first quarter of 2025, compared with the same period last year, while profits fell more than 70%.

The company warned investors that the pain could continue, declining to offer a growth forecast while saying "changing political sentiment" could meaningfully hurt demand.

The recent dip in the company's fortunes came amid an outcry over Musk's role in Trump's new administration, which he acknowledged had taken his focus off the company.

The tech boss contributed more than a quarter of a billion dollars to Trump's re-election. He also leads Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) initiative to cut federal spending and slash the government workforce.

Musk said his "time allocation to Doge" would "drop significantly" starting next month. He would, he said, spend only one to two days per week on government matters "as long as the president would like me to do so and as long as it's useful".

His political involvement has sparked protests and boycotts of Tesla around the world.

He blamed the "blowback" on people who would "try to attack me and the Doge team". But he called his work at Doge "critical" and said "getting the government house in order is mostly done".

Tesla brought in $19.3bn (£14.5bn) in total revenue in the quarter, down 9% year on year, according to the new numbers. That was less than the $21.1bn expected by analysts, and came as the company cut prices in a bid to woo buyers.

Trump's tariffs on China also weighed heavily on Tesla, the company indicated. Although the vehicles Tesla sells in its home market are assembled in the US, it depends on many parts made in China. "Rapidly evolving trade policy" could hurt its supply chain and raise costs, according to the company.

"This dynamic, along with changing political sentiment, could have a meaningful impact on demand for our products in the near-term," Tesla's quarterly update said.

Musk has clashed on trade with other Trump administration figures, including trade adviser Peter Navarro.

Earlier this month, he called Navarro a "moron" over comments he had made about Tesla. Navarro had said Musk was "not a car manufacturer" but a "car assembler, in many cases".

On Tuesday, Musk said he thought Tesla was the car company least affected by tariffs because of its localised supply chains in North America, Europe and China, but he added that tariffs were "still tough on a company where margins are low".

"I'll continue to advocate for lower tariffs rather than higher tariffs but that's all I can do," he said on Tuesday.

Tesla said artificial intelligence would contribute to future growth, though investors have been unconvinced by such arguments in the past.

Shares in the company had shed about 37% of their value this year as of market close on Tuesday. They rose by more than 5% in after-hours trading following the results.

Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell, called expectations "rock-bottom" after the company said earlier this month that the number of cars sold in the quarter had fallen 13% to the lowest level in three years.

The firm faces fierce competition, Coatsworth said, warning that potential disruption to global supply chains as a result of Trump's trade war also created risks.

"Tesla's problems are mounting," he said. — BBC