It was perhaps the clearest sign yet that Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s political maneuvering has backfired. On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump stood alongside the tech billionaire and a red Tesla Model S outside the White House, declaring he was buying the electric car for his staff to use and paying full price.

Trump’s unprecedented endorsement of the electric vehicle (EV) giant comes after months of mounting criticism over Musk’s deepening involvement in both US and foreign politics — including support for far-right parties in Europe — and after billions of dollars were wiped off Tesla's shares.

That Musk sought the president’s public backing suggests that protests, consumer boycotts and even sabotage attacks on Tesla vehicles, charging stations and production plants have unsettled the world’s wealthiest man and spooked Tesla investors. Trump condemned those incidents as cases of "domestic terrorism."

Tesla’s plunging sales have added to the pressure. In Germany, where Musk used his social media platform X to endorse the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party ahead of last month’s national elections, Tesla registrations fell 76% in February compared to the previous year. EV registrations overall in Germany surged by nearly a third over the same period.

A similar trend is emerging elsewhere, including France where Tesla sales fell by 45% in the first two months of the year, while Australia saw sales fall by more than a third in the four months since Trump's reelection.

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