Tesla was hit by a wave of protests over Musk, sales are crashing, insiders are waking up

While most protests were peaceful and lawful, some vandalism did happen, with images of Tesla stores getting graffitied with anti-fascism phrases.

Groups supporting the protests, like Anonymous, say it is just the beginning and plan to keep putting pressure on Tesla to, in turn, put pressure on Musk.

As we previously reported, Tesla’s sales this year are crashing in Europe, where they release monthly data.

In the US, the data comes a bit later, and therefore, it’s hard to tell how much Tesla sales are being affected by the negative perception of its CEO, but these protests against Tesla are undoubtedly unprecedented.

We have often highlighted how Tesla’s board of directors, which has authority over the CEO, has been entirely silent on this situation – letting Musk do whatever he wants, including spending little time at Tesla while running X, xAI, SpaceX, Neuralink, Boring Company, and DOGE.

While the board remains silent, it sounds like there’s finally some pushback amongst Tesla insiders.

The Washington Post has obtained a recording from a recent staff meeting at Tesla where some have openly expressed concerns about Musk:

Employees and senior managers at a recent staff meeting at one Tesla division openly expressed concern that Musk is damaging the company’s business and sustainability mission, according to a recording obtained by The Washington Post.

Tesla employees spoke to the Post about rising beliefs amongst the ranks about Musk “tarnishing the brand.”

According to a Tesla employee speaking to the Post, senior managers said that they believe “the company would be better off if Musk resigned.”

While some insiders are starting to speak out within the company, the report highlights how most discontent with Musk among employees happens in private:

Inside Tesla, most discussion of discomfort with the CEO happens quietly over lunch or in private messages, one of the employees who spoke with The Post said, and workers use external communication tools, fearing the company could be monitoring staff for signs of disloyalty.

Tesla regularly implements waves of layoffs, and lately, Musk has been using them to consolidate power and keep only loyalists among his top ranks at Tesla.

Electrek’s Take

Is this momentum against Elon at Tesla? It’s hard to tell. I have been fearing that Elon drove away most people who could stand against him at Tesla.

The protests are good, and employees speaking up is good, but at the end of the day, with the board in Elon’s pocket, it means that nothing short of the stock price crashing to push shareholders to kick the board out is needed.

I could see that happening, as I expect this quarter’s deliveries and earnings to be quite bad. However, there could also be a broader market downturn, on which Musk could blame Tesla’s stock’s poor performance.

It should be interesting next few months.