Musk says he will stay at Tesla, wonders why EV customers would care about his politics

Tesla CEO Elon Musk says he is not planning to go anywhere – apart from maybe Mars – at least in the short term, and declared that he will continue to be the boss at the EV and battery storage company for at least another five years.

In two different interviews with Bloomberg and CNBC at an event in Qatar, Musk also declared that the future growth in Tesla lay in autonomy – both for the company’s EVs and the Optimus humanoid robot the company is developing.

He also downplayed the fall in EV sales, claiming that they were strong everywhere but Europe – which is not actually true – and said he would wind back his political donations, after spending more than half a billion dollars (Australian) on campaigns for Donald Trump and other Republicans.

Tesla sales have slumped across the world – in Europe, China, Australia, and in the US – as it deals with more competition, the retooling of factories for the refreshed Model Y, and growing public distaste for Musk’s political declarations and the spreading of far-right conspiracy theories on X.

Analysts have downgraded their sales and revenue forecasts following a deeper than expected fall in sales in the first quarter, and Tesla has acknowledged the political impact on its sales, although it told investors at its first quarter briefing it was the result of “hateful” campaigns.

But Musk insisted in the CNBC interview that was not the case.

“We can’t make cars if the factories are retooling. But we’ve seen a major rebound in demand at this point,” Musk said. “When you buy a product, how much do you care about the political views of the CEO or even care what they are?”

It’s a view advanced by many Tesla technology fans and shareholders, despite the strong evidence that customers have been turned off the brand because of Musk’s political views, and that many do care about Musk’s politics, particularly when they are so prominent.

There were reports, in the Wall Street Journal, that the Tesla board had canvassed hiring a new CEO – later denied by both the board, and – in an all caps tweet – by Musk, but some commentators have questioned his ongoing impact on the company.

But the sales numbers for EVs, even if they do rebound as the deliveries of the new Model Y ramp up, may not matter so much to the company and its investors, given that Musk has long insisted – and many analysts agree – that its blue sky value is in autonomy and robotics.

“The only things that matter in long term are autonomy and Optimus,” Musk said in the interview with CNBC.  “Those overwhelmingly dominate the future of financial success of the company.”

Tesla plans to launch its Robotaxi in Austin, Texas, next month. Musk says there will be 10 Model Y vehicles using FSD (full self driving) to start with, but hopes this can grow to 1,000 “within few months.” They will be contained in special geo-fenced areas. He wants to extend the trials to Los Angeles and San Franciso.

Even in Australia, Tesla has displayed the use of FSD, highlighting on a video its ability to do so called “hook turns” around tram lines in the Melbourne CBD.

Musk has been accused of over-promising on autonomy, and there is still a huge debate about whether his camera-based system can trump that of rivals such as Waymo, which is already operating self driving cars in some US markets using lidar and radar.

Analysts and investors, however, say the bullish price for Tesla stock – it has rebounded 50 per cent in the past few weeks from a post-sales result low – is based largely on expectations about the success of autonomy. And Musk himself is convinced that everyone on the planet wants their own robot.