In December 2024, just weeks before President Trump moved back into the White House, shares of the iconic carmaker Tesla shares were trading for nearly $480 each. But that was before chief executive Elon Musk took a prominent role in the administration — and proceeded to make nearly everyone outside of MAGA world turn on him.

On Monday, shares of his once burgeoning company closed at less than $227.

Mr. Musk’s public role in the Trump administration — he has taken a chainsaw to the federal payroll in an effort to cut $1 trillion from the budget, only to come up $850 billion short so far — has made him extremely unpopular across blue America.

Sales of Tesla’s electric cars, once the envy of rich liberals virtue-signaling their efforts to save the planet, have suffered along with Mr. Musk’s reputation.

Just how bad things are for the company will come into clearer view on Tuesday, when Tesla is set to release its first-quarter earning report. If market movement in recent weeks is any indication, it doesn’t look good: Tesla’s stock plunged nearly 7 percent on Monday alone amid rising concerns from investors.

In an unusual move, Tesla says the earnings call will include a “live company update” expected to be attended by Mr. Musk himself. 

One needs to look no further than the Tesla dealerships themselves for signs of how bad things have gotten. Last month, more than 300 protesters stormed a Tesla showroom in Manhattan as part of the national “Tesla Takedown” movement. 

Activists didn’t just chant outside — they occupied the showroom itself, resulting in six arrests. Protesters from coast to coast — from Portland to Charlotte, St. Louis to Palo Alto — took their frustrations directly to the heart of Mr. Musk’s empire. Showrooms, charging stations, and even the infamously boxy Cybertruck were targeted as demonstrators called out Mr. Musk’s close ties to Mr. Trump.

Mr. Musk’s active participation in Mr. Trump’s administration and sweeping endorsements of right-wing populist ideologies in Europe have been fueling a backlash in historically loyal markets. Boycotts and protests — like Norway’s own “Tesla Takedown” demonstrations — highlight the growing frustration among former Tesla enthusiasts. 

Once leading the charge as the top-selling EV in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, Tesla has lost substantial ground. Sales in Sweden dropped 42 percent year-on-year, while Norway and Denmark each saw declines of 48 percent. Even Tesla’s dominance in France has evaporated, with sales dropping 45 percent in the opening months of 2025. 

If sales troubles weren’t enough, Tesla is also grappling with attacks on its infrastructure. A string of arson incidents targeting charging stations in Massachusetts is part of a larger trend of vandalism aimed at Tesla facilities nationwide. Seven Tesla charging stations were destroyed in what officials suspect was an intentional act. 

Meanwhile, other disturbing incidents linked to Mr. Musk’s notoriety have surfaced, including  graffiti attacks on Tesla owners’ cars and at Tesla dealerships from Maryland to Colorado. Almost daily, Tesla owners post photos of their cars tagged with spray-painted swastikas, and vandals have hit dealerships, emblazoning some vehicles with “No Musk” graffiti.

In an effort to offset the dismal public relations, Tesla announced Monday that it will employ aggressive price cuts and incentives to stimulate demand for its Cybertruck, a vehicle Mr. Musk once claimed had more than a million reservations. So far, Tesla has reportedly converted fewer than 50,000 of those reservations into actual sales, according to one report, prompting the new price cuts.

Recent promotions include discounts of $11,990 on the 2024 Cyberbeast Foundation Series and similar reductions for other models such as the 2024 AWD Cybertruck, now priced at $89,990. Both models come with free lifetime supercharging access, and in some cases, full self-driving — features that used to cost thousands on top of the vehicle’s sticker price.

Tesla’s goal appears to be reversing slow sales as buyers hesitate over its divisive design and higher-than-expected price tags.

Mr. Musk’s earlier promise of a $25,000 Tesla from a cost-cutting platform designed during their 2020 Battery Day never materialized. Instead, Tesla pivoted to creating less expensive versions of existing models like the Model 3 and Model Y. The absence of new mass-market products is raising concerns that Tesla is losing momentum against competitors who are aggressively expanding product lineups.

Sales data from California alone, via the California New Car Dealers Association, paint a troubling picture for the automaker. Tesla experienced a 15.1 percent decline in Q1 sales in its largest American market, dropping from 49,875 units sold last year to 42,322 units this year. Still, over the same period, the Model Y remained the best-selling vehicle in California, selling 23,314 units. 

However, Tesla’s EV market share plummeted from 55.5 percent in Q1 2024 to just 43 percent in Q1 2025, even as total EV sales in California grew by 7.3 percent year-over-year.

Meanwhile, competitors like GMC, Jaguar, and Porsche posted triple-digit growth in the state, signaling increasing competition in the EV market. “Tesla was once synonymous with EV dominance, but in today’s diversified market, other automakers are carving out meaningful niches,” noted one market analyst.