Elon Musk's right-wing turn seems to repel many of the crunchy car buyers who once were Tesla’s biggest fans. Foot traffic to Tesla’s stores fell dramatically last fall, as Musk’s political presence became more visible, and inventory of unsold cars began piling up. In May, Matthew LaBrot, a former sales manager who quit the company in protest, told Bloomberg Businessweek’s podcast Elon, Inc. that he believed the company’s redesigned Model Y sedan was selling poorly because the new design made the date of purchase obvious. “You can’t put an ‘I bought this before he went crazy’ sticker on one of these cars,” LaBrot said. “He was already crazy.”

 

Elon Musk’s Empire Is Creaking Under the Strain of Elon Musk

Tesla, SpaceX and xAI are struggling to deal with the fallout from Musk’s Trump feud and wild bets.

By Max Chafkin and Edward Ludlow