Oops brilliant Elon at work https://www.politico.eu/article/pola...st-nazi-guilt/
Tesla's stock market value has tumbled below $1 trillion. The carmaker's shares seem to be suffering from the image of top executive Elon Musk, who has to watch as sales in Europe fell by almost half last month. While Musk is taking a blunt axe to the US government apparatus, Wall Street is pounding hard on shares of Musk's car brand Tesla. Tesla's share price has fallen so far in recent days that the manufacturer has tumbled out of the trillion-dollar division of the exclusive company of companies with a market value above $1 trillion (€950 billion) such as Apple, Amazon, Meta, Nvidia and JPMorgan.
The last push came when it was revealed that Tesla's sales in Europe had almost halved. The manufacturer sold less than 100 thousand cars in January this year, down 45 per cent from the same month a year earlier. In the European Union, the number of cars sold actually fell by more than 50 per cent. Tesla's market share in the EU shrank almost as sharply, from 1.8 per cent to 1 per cent. On Tuesday, Tesla shares went down 8 per cent, a slight recovery occurred on Wednesday, but not enough to return the car brand to the Olympus of the biggest listed companies.
But analysts also see indications that Tesla is suffering from ‘Musk shaming’, a variation on the trend of flight shaming that causes travellers to forgo air travel when an alternative, more sustainable mode of transport is available. Potential Tesla buyers seem to be turning away because of Musk's questionable interventions in the US government and his flirtations with radical and far-right parties in Europe. A poll by Electriying.com, a website dedicated to electric cars, showed late last month that 60 per cent of potential electric car buyers are refraining from buying a Tesla because of the top executive's image. ‘Tesla has been instrumental in the acceptance of the electric car, but Elon Musk's personal brand seems to be fuelling polarisation,’ said Electrifying director Ginny Buckley.
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