XPost: alt.tesla, alt.politics.economics, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh
XPost: sac.politics, talk.politics.guns
Elon Musk said Tuesday that Tesla is experiencing a "major rebound in
demand" after political blowback undermined interest in its electric
vehicles.
Why it matters: The company's sales declined in the first quarter amid a backlash to his political support for President Trump and his leadership
of the budget-slashing Department of Government Efficiency.
Driving the news: Musk told CNBC in a live interview that the company's
sales are bouncing back. He did not provide specifics.
He also said Tesla is on track to launch "unsupervised" full-self-driving
car services in Austin, Texas, in June — but he said the company will
"start with probably 10 for a week" before increasing from there.
Musk said it'll "probably be at a thousand within a few months," though he confirmed reports that the company will have people remotely monitoring
the operations to ensure safety. He predicted hundreds of thousands to a million Teslas with full self-driving capability on U.S. roads overall by
the end of 2026.
"I think it's prudent for us to start with a small number, confirm that
things are going well, and then scale it up proportionate to how well we
see it's doing," he said.
The big picture: Musk said last month that he would take a significant
step back from his work in Washington.
He also told Bloomberg's Qatar Economic Forum today that he would dial
back his political spending.
https://www.axios.com/2025/05/20/elon-musk-tesla-ev-sales-doge
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