It’s been a bad day (or year, should we say) at the office for Elon Musk.
Musk, who is a close ally of Donald Trump and the current head of the president’s controversial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has lost a staggering amount of money this year so far.
With his alliance with Trump in mind, apparently the multibillionaire’s Tesla stock took a huge hit back in January when the newly-elected president came into office.
And things have only gotten worse for the once-leading electric vehicle manufacturer in more ways than one.
Tesla cars and dealerships have been targeted in attacks of late, sparking Trump to bring in a ‘Tesla task force’ to tackle the issue.
Musk himself has addressed the ongoing violence and expressed his surprise.
“It is remarkable that there is so much violence, people have had burnt cars, they have fired bullets into dealerships, they have scratched swastikas into Teslas of innocent people, they are just going about their lives,” he told Fox News.
Musk continued: “The president has made it clear that we are going to go after those who are paying and organizing these violent attacks and attorney general Bondi has said the same thing.”
In light of Telsa-owners being targeted, sales of the EVs have dropped by 13 percent in 2025’s first quarter, Reuters reports.
In another blow to the car manufacturer, Trump’s recently imposed tariffs will affect Tesla as it sources a lot of its car parts from foreign countries.
Yesterday (April 3), a new 25 percent levy on cars and parts imported into the US came into force, and the tariffs on car parts will begin May 3.
