That surge reversed four years of poor performance for Tesla's shares as investors soured on the EV maker's weakening fundamentals and CEO Elon Musk's serial promises of fully self-driving cars and an inexpensive mass-market model that proved an ever-receding horizon.

Elon Musk has deepened his involvement in far-right-wing politics, which has placed Tesla in a bind. Sales have declined catastrophically in Europe, and the stock value has dropped 40 percent in 2025.

Tesla now faces headwinds from the president Musk helped elect. Trump, a frequent EV critic, has called for scrapping EV subsidies and policies that have added billions of dollars to Tesla’s bottom line. Musk has dismissed the impact on Tesla of losing subsidies, saying rivals would suffer more.