Tesla At 'Major Crossroads,' According to Analysts
- by Tanya Gazdik , April 20, 2025
Photo Credit: Tanya
Gazdik/MediaPost
Tesla is scheduled to post its first-quarter earnings report after Tuesday's bell.
“Analysts are divided on the electric vehicle maker leading up to the results,” according to Investopedia. “The EV maker's stock has suffered as the company has been the center of protests and controversy over CEO Elon Musk's political efforts.”
There is potentially 15%-20% permanent demand destruction for future Tesla buyers due to the brand damage Musk has created since joining President Donald Trump’s administration, notes Wedbush Securities, a financial services firm, in a research report, which says Musk needs to leave the government, take a major step back on DOGE, and get back to being CEO of Tesla full-time.
advertisement
advertisement
“Tesla has now unfortunately become a political symbol globally of the Trump Administration/DOGE,” according to the report. “Tesla’s stock has been crushed since Trump stepped back into the White House, brand damage to Musk/Tesla resulted in a terrible 1Q delivery number with much lower 2025 deliveries on the horizon, protests and violence against Tesla dealerships/owners has erupted around the globe.”
Consumers continue to protest Musk along with Trump. Protest signs observed over the weekend at one event in Detroit directly target Musk, including one reading “Feed The People, Eat The Rich” featuring Musk’s face, and another reading “Fire Musk.”
“Over the past few months, many people have criticized Musk, expressing concern that his lack of focus on Tesla has compromised share prices,” according to The Street. “Tesla investor Ross Gerber has called for Musk to step down as Tesla's CEO, arguing that it is in the company’s best interests.”
The world will be waiting for signs in the earnings call that better days are ahead for the company, but at the moment, there are no signs that will happen.
“Tesla is is like the boy who cried wolf,” according to Clean Technica. “Every time it makes promises it doesn’t keep, its reputation suffers. Most major corporations care passionately about their reputation, but such things do not seem to concern the great and powerful Musk or the Tesla board of directors.”
Once again, MediaPost leans into a political perspective rather than offering an honest, marketing-driven analysis. Instead of focusing on real factors affecting Tesla—like rising EV competition, affordability concerns, or shifting consumer adoption curves—they spin a narrative about Musk’s politics as if that alone explains everything from deliveries to stock price. That’s not insight. That’s agenda.
The claim of “permanent demand destruction” is speculative at best and deliberately misleading at worst. If MediaPost were interested in understanding actual market dynamics, they’d be asking why the entire EV segment is cooling off, not just Tesla. They’d be examining pricing strategy, battery costs, and global competition—not chasing protest signs and X outrage.
What makes this especially disingenuous is the attempt to paint consumer behavior as politically driven while ignoring the fundamentals. Tesla didn’t become the most valuable automaker in the world because of its politics—it did so by delivering breakthrough products, vertical integration, and relentless innovation. If the stock is down, it’s because the market is correcting expectations across tech and EV sectors—not because Musk showed up in a meme.
If MediaPost actually understood branding and marketing, they’d know that consumer perception is shaped over time through performance, consistency, and trust—not headlines and hashtags. But that would require stepping outside the political bubble and focusing on the business. Clearly, that’s not the priority.
John, the author of this article cites FOUR unique and relevant sources to support the thesis that Musk is a drag on Tesla, including a quote from Ross Gerber. You, however, claim that this is not true and that competition and other market realities are the cause of Tesla's decline, but you offer no substance to support this, just your own speculation. So, who is in the political bubble exactly?
To be clear, I don't think you're totally wrong about the full scope of Tesla's challenges. But both factors can be true. To say that Mediapost is being disingenous is to ignore at least half of reality.
Artie, the article may cite four sources, but quoting a handful of critics—especially ones like Ross Gerber who’s been publicly feuding with Musk for years—doesn’t make the piece balanced or grounded. That’s not objective sourcing, it’s cherry-picking voices who already align with the author's narrative. And MediaPost consistently frames business performance through a political lens, not a marketing or operational one. That’s the issue.
Meanwhile, what I’ve pointed to isn’t speculation—it’s data. Tesla first saw a notable dip in profitability during Q2 2024, reporting a 45% year-over-year drop in net income to $1.48 billion, even though revenue ticked up slightly. That decline was due to falling average selling prices, reduced deliveries, and tighter margins from competition—all of which happened under the Biden administration, long before Trump returned to the spotlight or any significant political developments involving Musk or associations with DOGE.
So no, it’s not “ignoring half of reality” to say MediaPost is being disingenuous. It’s pointing out that they’re rewriting the timeline to fit a political point. The numbers fell before the politics flared up. That’s not coincidence—it’s cause and effect. If we’re going to talk about Tesla’s challenges honestly, we have to start with the actual market forces that triggered the decline—not retroactively blame it on culture war baggage because it makes for a better headline.