Donald Trump says he is a "great patriot" and has been "treated unfairly" — but Elon Musk's close relationship with the Trump administration may pose a challenge for his Tesla brand.
The company's share price has nose-dived, with some experts warning the Musk name and his embrace of far right-wing views may be hitting his automotive company hard.
The Texas-based firm reported a 71 per cent drop in profits and a 9 per cent decline in revenue for the first quarter.
Musk has scaled back his government cost-cutting job to a "day or two per week" to focus more on his old job as Tesla's boss.
Tesla's stock slumping has been linked to Musk's foray into politics and his work at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
However, a recent report from the Global Risk Advisory Council shows Musk might have a bigger problem.
His personal brand and reputation may be tarnished.
Association with Musk brings risk
Associating your brand with Musk creates a "strong likelihood" of the most severe reputational risk, according to the report.
Global Risk Advisory Council chair Isabel Casillas Guzman said Musk had a "controversial omnipresence in the media landscape".
"The impact of association with influential figures in today's heavily divided environment cannot be understated, especially with a deeply polarising leader like Elon Musk," she said.
"Musk's impact on businesses extend well past his own."
The personal impact of Tesla's recent downturn has hit Musk personally as well. He has suffered a $US120 billion ($190 billion) hit from the mid-December share price peak.
He does remain the richest person on the planet though, by some margin.
'The clock struck midnight'
Earlier this week, Musk said he would refocus his attention on the electric car maker, cutting back his time spent working in DOGE.
"The large slog of work necessary to get the DOGE team in place and working with the government to get the financial house in order is mostly done," Musk told analysts on a conference call.
He acknowledged the blowback on the company, but brushed off concerns about brand damage hurting Tesla's first-quarter sales.
As to why Musk thought now was the time to shift his main focus back to Tesla, Dan Ives, managing director at Wedbush Securities, said he wasn't left with much choice.
"I think Musk recognised between the tariffs and the brand damage, the clock struck midnight," he told ABC News Channel.
"It was time for him to get back to Tesla."
The promise of Musk's return did not entirely dispel worries that he had irrevocably damaged the company's brand, but Tesla investors did breathe a sigh of relief.
[Tesla share price chart]"His time is very valuable, and I think Tesla needs his attention," said Ross Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management and a Tesla investor.
"But it doesn't change that people don't want the Tesla brand. I don't know how you fix that."
On the Tesla earnings call, Musk distanced himself from Donald Trump's tariffs.
"I've been on the record many times saying that I believe lower tariffs are generally a good idea for prosperity," he said, but added the decision is up to the president of the US, not him.
Protests and boycotts aren't an issue, says Musk
Tesla showrooms around the US and in Europe have been targets of protests and some vehicles have been shot and set ablaze.
Musk dismissed the protests against Tesla on the earnings call.
He said it was the work of people angry at his leadership of DOGE because "those who are receiving the waste and fraud wish it to continue".
However, the protests in Europe came after Musk supported far-right politicians there.
Angry Europeans hung Musk in effigy in Milan, projected an image of him doing a straight-arm salute on a Tesla factory in Berlin.
In London there were posters urging people not to buy "Swasticars" from him.
On the back of that, sales in Europe have gone into a free fall in the first three months of this year — down 39 per cent.
In Australia data shows that potential Tesla buyers were turned off by Musk.
Amidst the protests and slumping stock price, rivals have stepped in to steal customers.
Tesla's fiercest rival is Chinese giant BYD who earlier this year announced it had developed an electric battery that can charge within minutes.
Tesla's share of the EV market in the US has dropped from two-thirds to less than half, according to Cox Automotive.
Can he fix it?
Experts warn the brand faces a long road to recovery, especially as political controversy continues to weigh on its image.
"Musk could do a reversal on his political career and dedicate 100 per cent of his time to Tesla, but the rot has set in," said Sue Benson, CEO and founder of The Behaviours Agency, a marketing firm.
"No amount of time spent in Tesla's offices will undo the new perception many people have of Musk," she added.
"In fact it could make things worse as it's far too late to separate the man from the machine."
Despite this take, investors pushed up Tesla's stock 5 per cent on Wednesday immediately after he announced his cutback from DOGE.
Musk downplayed the role that brand damage played in the drop in first-quarter sales on the investor call.
Instead, he emphasised an upgrade to Tesla's best-selling Model Y that forced a shutdown of factories and pinched both supply and demand.
On the call, Musk said Tesla will launch driverless cabs without steering wheels and pedals in Austin, Texas in June this year.
Referred to as a robotaxi, Musk said it would be launched in other US cities soon after.
He also told analysts that this driverless capability will be available on the Tesla vehicles already on the road through software updates.
"There will be millions of Teslas operating autonomously in the second half of the year," he said.
The billionaire hinted these are just two of many initiatives that will "affect the bottom line of the company".
Despite his efforts to boost sales through these incentives analysts expect a second straight annual decline in Tesla deliveries in 2025.
The issues in front of Tesla and Musk are clear, and Mr Ives believes "it's a pivotal time for him to step up".
"I think that DOGE took on a life of its own, and it was time for him to read the room," he said on ABC News Channel.
