The electric vehicle company has had a pretty rough year to say the least. Despite being the company that catapulted Elon Musk to rank as the richest man in the world, Tesla has taken a massive plunge this year.
Since the tech mogul took on a new government role as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), he’s had his hands full trying to scrape $2 trillion in savings out of the federal budget.
As a result, Tesla’s brand and market value have taken a hit with worldwide protests and vandalism targeting the company, and investors claiming the CEO should step down.
Revenue from the electric car sales dropped a staggering 20% last quarter, and the company’s overall net profit is down a whopping 71% year-on-year.
Tesla’s overall net profit is down 71% year-on-year. (jetcityimage/Getty)
Investors and analysts are suggesting that Musk’s close ties with the White House and Trump-ally is turning Tesla into a political symbol is directly impacting the company’s image.
Now, Tesla has reported that it’s sitting on a mountain of over 10,000 unsold Cybertrucks worth a jaw-dropping $800 million.
Despite Musk’s ambitious goal of selling 250,000 Cybertrucks annually, Tesla barely managed to move 6,400 units in the first quarter of 2025.
Adding fuel to the fire, major shareholders like Kimbal Musk selling stocks and fears of what President Donald Trump’s tariffs could do to the brand have only worried potential customers further.
Last month, Musk tried to revive the company by ordering a Tesla fire sale and knocking $10,000 off the high-tech Cybertruck’s eye-watering price tag. Additionally, the SpaceX founder tried rolling out a cheaper $69,990 Rear-Wheel Drive model introduced in April, but sales barely budged.
This is almost unsurprising as it’s been slammed for stripping away key features like adaptive suspension, the rear lightbar and bed outlets.
Musk hasn’t been in the driver’s seat much of Tesla this year. (Win McNamee/Staff/Getty)
So, even with massively discounted financing, Tesla can’t seem to move these things.
To make matters worse, Tesla been plagued with recalls over everything from sticky accelerators to faulty doors which is continuously hurting consumer confidence.
According to Business Insider, Tesla is reportedly ‘throttling’ Cybertruck production and reallocating workers from its assembly lines. Production has been scaled back, with staff quietly redirected to focus on the more dependable and profitable Model Y.
Tesla’s brand has always been about pushing the envelope, as seen in its over-eccentric YouTube reveals, but now it seems they may have gone a step too far. Customers today crave practicality, reliability, and a design that works in everyday life, which is more than a flashy reveal can offer.
Featured Image Credit: baileystock / Getty
With Tesla board members reportedly discussing the possibility of replacing Elon Musk as CEO, a number of candidates have emerged to best replace the richest man in the world at the top of the electric vehicle company.
It’s hard to imagine Tesla without Elon Musk, as while he didn’t actually create the company (despite being named a ‘founder’), the billionaire has been intrinsically tied to the car manufacturer’s brand for many years now.
He has placed increasing emphasis on his role at SpaceX with plans for a Mars mission, and many would argue that his position as head of the newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has consumed most of his focus since the turn of the year, to the point where analysts deemed it essential for him to leave the federal position to save Tesla.
A combination of many key factors, including Musk’s more outspoken far-right politics, his actions within government, and President Trump‘s punishing tariff plan have led to a major downturn in Tesla’s stock market fortunes though, as the vehicle company has seen significant losses across the first few months of 2025.
Many see Musk as inseparable from Tesla, but the company’s recent decline could see him replaced (Christian Marquardt – Pool/Getty Images)
Tesla has seen a 38% decline since its price peaked at $479.86 in December last year, and was struggling significantly before Musk announced his plans to depart from DOGE and return to Tesla ‘full time’.
However, reported from the Wall Street Journal indicate that certain Tesla board members were reaching out to recruiters in search of a potential new CEO, and while both Tesla’s board Chair and Musk himself have denied these claims, it does propose an intriguing question as to who would actually replace the billionaire at the helm.
Many have immediately looked inwards to the company’s key existing staff just below Musk, and names like Senior Vice President of Automotive Tom Zhu, CFO Vaibhav Taneja, and Musk’s own ‘right-hand man’ Omead Afshar are among the most likely to claim the role, as per Business Insider.
Afshar, for example, is seen by many as the ‘final boss’ you have to pass before speaking to Musk directly, although some former employees have revealed that they were ‘forced to resign’ after voicing their concerns to Musk and his team about certain products.
Additionally, one key individual currently outside of the company that some important analysts favor is Tesla co-founder JB Straubel, who was one of the company’s first employees and served as CTO until 2019.
“I could see that being a big win on the level that he knows Tesla,” outlined Gene Munster, Managing Partner at Deepwater Asset Management, when speaking to BI. “He’s also probably the person who has the best working relationship with Elon […] and I think it’s unique in Elon’s orbit, the mutual respect that they have for each other.”
JB Straubel is seen as a strong candidate to replace Musk due to his knowledge of the company and relationship with the current CEO (Bridget Bennett/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Departing from Musk, despite current issues at the company, could spell disaster for Tesla though as the billionaire is so entwined with the company’s current identity.
Munster estimated that its stock market valuation could decline by 25% or more if Musk were to depart, and venture capitalist Bradley Tusk illustrated that “the only reason why Tesla has [the biggest market cap] is because of this faith in Elon, both from institutional and retail investors. Without him, they’re just another car company.”
It might also be a struggle to forcibly remove Musk from his post either, as he owns 13% of the company and has a number of key relationships with board members which include his own brother Kimbal.
Musk would likely need to depart of his own volition, which would be a major move that many could not see happening any time soon.
Featured Image Credit: ODD ANDERSEN / Contributor via Getty
Tesla investor reveals key requirements for a new CEO as reports of pressure for Elon Musk to step down swirl
Elon Musk has been the CEO of Tesla since 2008
An investor of Tesla has revealed the key requirements for a new CEO as reports of pressure for Elon Musk to step down continue to swirl.
Musk has been at the helm of Tesla since 2008 but his leadership over the EV manufacturing firm has become uncertain in recent months.
From the start of this year, the billionaire has had his hands full with his new role in government, taking on the job as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which he has recently stepped back from.
However, it appears that investors have become unhappy with Tesla’s performances as stocks have continued to be unstable in the last few months and a new CEO could potentially be on the horizon.
Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported that members of the board at Tesla had already reached out to recruitment companies to start the hiring process.
Tesla could be looking for a new CEO (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
But what requirements are expected of someone stepping up to the plate? One investor has lifted the lid.
According to Business Insider, investors believe that the job would be ‘nigh-on impossible’ to replace.
Speaking about Musk, Gene Munster, who is the managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management and a Tesla investor, said: “He’s a fabric that holds Tesla together and moves it forward. He’s one of those people who can’t be replaced.”
He added: “Culturally, it’s hard for them [Tesla] to bring somebody over. Their whole DNA is about disrupting the standard.”
But if someone else was to fill those shoes, the list of possible candidates is quite short.
Seth Goldstein, who is an analyst at Morningstar, revealed that the prime candidates actually come from within Tesla and could include Senior Vice President of Automotive Tom Zhu, as well as the current CFO, Vaibhav Taneja.
Elon Musk has been the CEO of Tesla since 2008 (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Another possible selection for the CEO job is Omead Afshar, who was formerly Musk’s chief of staff.
Speaking about what it’s like to work at Tesla, Goldstein continued: “What you see is that the division executives and the leaders have a lot of decision-making power to run things. It’s almost like a good leadership training ground.”
Some key requirements for the role include getting Musk’s seal of approval and being from with the Tesla ranks, meaning another possible candidate JB Straubel, who is the CEO of Redwood Materials and a current Tesla board member, could stand a good chance.
Talking about Straubel, Munster said: “I could see that being a big win on the level that he knows Tesla. He’s also probably the person who has the best working relationship with Elon.
“Elon and JB have something that’s pretty special. And I think it’s unique in Elon’s orbit, the mutual respect that they have for each other.”
Featured Image Credit: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
While Elon Musk’s position as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency has called his role as the CEO of Tesla into question, it doesn’t look like the world’s richest man is leaving his EV baby behind anytime soon.
The world’s richest man has claimed he’ll soon be stepping back from politics to focus on Tesla, although there are continued calls from top investors saying he should be fired, alongside wild claims that the company is searching for someone to replace him.
Elon Musk is on the charm offensive, and keen to take the spotlight away from legal troubles with Tesla vehicles, he’s been promoting other avenues like the Optimus robots.
Musk has been promising full autonomy since 2014 (Tesla)
Unfortunately for the tech billionaire, there could be more Tesla troubles as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) could pump the brakes on his plans for Full Self-Driving Tesla Robotaxis.
During a damning April earnings call where Musk had to address Tesla’s 70% slump in profits, the company overlord made big promises about “selling fully autonomous rides in June in Austin,” adding that it would be “maybe ten or 20 vehicles on day one.” This was hyped as rolling out to ‘millions’ of Teslas by the second half of 2026, but as June looms, that date is looking more unlikely by the day.
Hearing about the FSD rollout on robotaxis, the NHTSA has written a letter to Tesla and asked for additional information. Highlighting its investigations into four crashes and a pedestrian incident involving FDS, the NHTSA wants to “understand how Tesla plans to evaluate its vehicles and driving automation technologies for use on public roads” before it approves of Robotaxis on the streets of Austin.
Futurism reminds us that Musk has been pushing full autonomy since 2014, adding that a wide array of ‘nagging obstacles’ are in the way before it reaches that goal, let alone a Waymo rival ride-hailing service that Tesla’s Robotaxis are clearly aiming to be.
You can almost hear Elon’s sigh of relief. He now has his excuse for canceling Tesla’s June robotaxi launch. It won’t be long until Elon claims Tesla was totally ready but the pesky regulators stopped him! Mighty convenient, do you think Elon ordered NHTSA to send this letter?
The news was welcomed by Musk critics like Dan O’Dowd. O’Dowd is the founder of The Dawn Project, whose site accuses: “Anyone who buys a Tesla from Elon Musk is an enabler for his reckless behavior, including his self-driving experiments that have resulted in over 1,000 crashes.” Posting on X about the NHTSA inquiry, O’Dowd wrote: “You can almost hear Elon’s sigh of relief. He now has an excuse for canceling Tesla’s June Robotaxi launch.”
Although Tesla has boasted about testing over 1,500 trips and 15,000 miles of autonomous driving to expand the FSD network, the Daily Mail says the NHTSA is ‘alarmed’ that the Robotaxi program is being based on the existing FSD framework.
Considering the NHTSA was already concerned about the FSD Supervised system that demands the driver keep their hands on the wheel to take control at any time, the alarm bells are ringing that Robotaxis could go with an unsupervised version.
Among the NHTSA’s demands, it wants to know how similar FSD Unsupervised is to the software it’s currently investigating, the size of the Robotaxi fleet, which Tesla models will be used, and what safety measures Tesla has put in place.
Featured Image Credit: Michael M. Santiago / Staff / Getty
Elon Musk threatens to sue Canada after Tesla was caught out for ‘suspicious’ behaviour
The Tesla trade wars continue
Those Tesla lawyers are pretty busy right now, with the electric vehicle brand in the midst of all sorts of litigation as both a plaintiff and a defendant.
As well as facing class-action lawsuits over claims of tampered odometers to get out of warranties, and misleading promises over Full Self-Driving software, Tesla itself is attempting to take Canada to the courts.
There’s no love lost between Elon Musk and the Great White North, and in the aftermath of him cosying up with President Donald Trump while the POTUS levied taxes on Canada, Ontario Premier Doug Ford ripped up a $100 million Starlink deal.
Over 250,000 Canadians signed a petition to revoke Musk’s Canadian citizenship, and while that might legally be a little tricky, we don’t think he’s going to be winning himself any new Canadian supporters with his latest court case.
Canada has also faced a slew of protests over Tesla (Katherine KY Cheng / Stringer / Getty)
As reported by the Toronto Star, Tesla lawyers are vexed by a recent freeze in Canada’s electric vehicle tax credits.
Musk’s EV brand claims that it’s being locked out of $30 million in tax credits after Canada stopped issuing rebates for its Incentives for Zero-Emission Vehicles program (iZEV) back in January 2025.
Tesla grabbed headlines in March when it made ‘suspicious’ claims for tens of millions of dollars in iZEV rebates just before the January deadline.
The outlet points out how most of these claims can be traced to just four dealers, with one Quebec City showroom claiming it sold 4,000 iZEV-eligible vehicles in a single weekend.
Over 8,600 claims were made in just 72 hours, coming in a whopping $43 million CAD ($30.9 million USD).
This amounted to around 60% of the remaining iZEV budget.
Canadian Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland announced a specific pause on Tesla’s iZEV payments amid Trump’s tariff chaos, as well as telling her office to ban the company from future tax credit eligibility as long as “illegitimate and illegal US tariffs are imposed against Canada.” Tesla maintains the freeze was ‘inappropriate’ because “Tesla Canada has been fully compliant with its participation in the program.”
In a letter signed by Tesla Canada’s director of sales and service Fereshteh Zeineddin, Tesla says: “We expect payments to resume in the immediate term.
Replying to @GeorgeM_Growth
It started quietly: Transport Canada froze $43M in Tesla rebates. No warning. No explanation. Then came the bombshell: Tesla is banned from all future incentives—nationwide.
Tesla reserves all rights to seek appropriate remedies in the event we cannot consensually resolve this dispute.”
Canada’s two previous transport ministers, Anita Anand and Freeland, both spoke out about Tesla, with Anand writing to Canadian Automobile Dealers Association spokesperson Huw Williams: This report is unacceptable and I am asking the department that is responsible for administering this program to provide me with detailed and complete information.”
After Mark Carney became Prime Minister, Freeland froze Tesla payments, pending a line-by-line investigation. In a statement to the Star, Freeland confirmed: “As soon as I became Transport Minister, I asked the department to stop all payments for Tesla vehicles in order to fully examine each claim individually and determine whether all are eligible and valid. No payments will be made until we are confident that the claims are valid.”
If a legal battle ensues, Tesla will have to make a case for being able to file claims after EVs were delivered, which is something the courts have struggled to agree on in the past.
