Photo illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Photo: Taylor Hill/Getty Images.
Elon Musk ramped up his effort to turn the wheel back toward Tesla today, after coming under pressure to contain the political firestorm threatening to scorch the brand.
Why it matters: Tesla's sales declined in the first quarter amid a backlash to his political support for President Trump and his leadership of the budget-slashing Department of Government Efficiency.
Driving the news: Musk today focused largely on Tesla's future during live interviews with CNBC and Bloomberg's Qatar Economic Forum. He said:
He'd remain CEOfor at least five years, and he's dialing back his political spending after pledging last month to reduce his time on DOGE.
Tesla is experiencing a "major rebound in demand," though he did not provide specifics.
And he touted Tesla's plansto launch "unsupervised" full-self-driving car services in Austin, Texas, in June — though he said the company will "start with probably 10 for a week" before increasing from there.
Yes, but: Musk couldn't help but take a shot at protestors who damaged Tesla vehicles and showrooms.
"It's not fine to resort to violence," he said, calling it "evil" to damage someone's car or threaten him personally.
"We're coming for you," he added, pointing at the camera in the Qatar Economic Forum interview.
The bottom line: Musk may be attempting to pivot, but the politicization of his image remains problematic for the Tesla brand.
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