(March 11): US President Donald Trump said he’ll buy a new Tesla to support Elon Musk, after shares of the electric-car maker had their worst day in four years amid a growing backlash over Musk’s political allegiances.

In a post just after midnight in Washington, Trump said he’ll buy a new Tesla Tuesday morning as a “show of confidence and support for Elon Musk, a truly great American. Why should he be punished for putting his tremendous skills to work in order to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN???” Trump didn’t specify which Tesla model he would buy.

Musk, who spent more than US$250 million (RM1.1 billion) to help elect Trump and other Republicans and is now the face of the president’s efforts to cut the size of the US government, responded with a simple “Thank you.”

Tesla shares had tumbled 15% on Monday after analysts including UBS Group AG’s Joseph Spak cut delivery projections. Wall Street had already begun downgrading their price targets on the stock and lowering earnings estimates.

The stock reversed course in premarket trading in New York, with shares up around 3%.

In addition to disruptions related to changing over its most important model to a new design, blowback against Musk, who is Tesla’s chief executive officer, is hurting the automaker’s standing in some of the world’s biggest EV markets. In Germany, for instance, registrations plummeted 70% during the first two months of the year as Musk endorsed the far-right Alternative for Germany in the months leading up to the Feb 23 election.

In China — the world’s biggest EV market — Tesla is among the manufacturers struggling to keep up with domestic champion BYD Co. Vehicle shipments from the Musk-led company’s plant in Shanghai plunged 49% in February to just 30,688 vehicles, the lowest monthly figure since July 2022.

Monday’s drop in Tesla shares was the biggest single-day decline since September 2020. The stock is down 45% in 2025 and has lost all of its gains since Trump won the US presidential election in November and investors pumped more than US$700 billion into Tesla shares.

Meanwhile, Musk’s net worth has dropped by more than US$130 billion since January, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Musk was asked earlier Monday how he was running his other businesses while focusing on DOGE, in an interview with former Trump adviser Larry Kudlow on Fox Business. The world’s richest man responded: “with great difficulty.”

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