'Trumped' again: Taking stock of Tesla's market ups and downs

The company's share price has been on a roller-coaster ride over the past year

US President Donald Trump and Tesla Motors chief executive Elon Musk at the Wells Fargo Center. AFP

Tesla Motors' stock price is taking a beating again, this time because of the very high-profile squabble between chief executive Elon Musk and US President Donald Trump.

Its 15 per cent decline on Thursday reflects the volatility that shadows the company's shares, which remain vulnerable to everything from market trends to short tweets, especially from Mr Musk.

Now, with his increasingly bitter fight with Mr Trump, Mr Musk might find himself on the short end of the stick: once a trusted adviser, he has now fallen out of favour with his blitz of criticism over Mr Trump's "big, beautiful" budget bill. Mr Musk derided it as a "disgusting abomination".

His gripes won't surely sit well with a "very disappointed" Mr Trump, who is notorious for getting back at his critics. Mr Musk curried favours during his time in the US administration, securing contracts and deals for his companies.

Those favours are now likely up in the air. Mr Trump had already suggested that one way to save "billions and billions" is to "terminate" Mr Musk's government subsidies and contracts.

It's a spectacular U-turn for the once allies; Mr Trump said he even bought a Tesla to show his support for Mr Musk.

Losing the White House’s support would be "terrible for Tesla, which is being eaten alive in Europe and Asia by Chinese competition, and Elon Musk’s irritating involvement in politics", said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.

She pointed out that Mr Musk would need the President's support, especially for Tesla's self-driving cars and Robotaxis, which "need friendly legislation to thrive".

"Legislation is Trump. The hype around Tesla is not looking good," she added.

Tesla's shares were up nearly 5 per cent in premarket trading on Friday amid reports of a scheduled call between Mr Trump and Mr Musk to end the spat.

While Tesla's stock still remains slightly above its level when Mr Trump won his second presidency in November – Mr Musk splashed $250 million to help ensure that – it's now uncertain how the Musk-Trump clash will affect its share price moving forward.

Here are some of the biggest movements in Tesla's stock history.

July 24, 2024: Competition heat

Tesla's stock dove 12 per cent to $215.99 after its second-quarter financials disappointed, with revenue sliding 7 per cent. The EV maker began feeling the heat from intense competition, most notably from China, as BYD famously overtook it as the world's biggest EV maker in the fourth quarter of 2023 and, subsequently, for the entirety of 2024.

October 24, 2024: 22% blitz

After solid third quarter financials that saw Mr Musk boldly projecting up to 30 per cent more sales in 2025, Tesla's stock rocketed nearly 22 per cent, putting investors at ease.

This was the biggest single-day gain in more than a decade, which also added $150 billion to the company's market value.

November 11, 2024: Tesla gets 'Trumped'

Tesla gained nearly 9 per cent to $350 as investors expected the alliance between Mr Musk and the then president-elect Mr Trump to further boost its stock.

The world's wealthiest person threw in about $250 million into Mr Trump's campaign to help the latter recapture the White House earlier that month.

January 2, 2025: New Year's peeve

After a series of highs, Tesla came back down, starting the new year with a more than 6 per cent drop to $379.28 after deliveries posted their first decline in a decade.

This was also the first time the stock went below the $400 level in nearly a month.

February 11, 2025: BYD strikes again

After the previous coups, BYD once again hit Tesla, this time as it partnered with fellow Chinese company DeepSeek – famous for putting a dent into the auras of OpenAI and Nvidia – to utilise artificial intelligence in autonomous vehicles.

That caused Tesla's stock to shed 6.3 per cent to $328.50.

March 10 to April 9, 2025: Tariff see-saw

The beginning of the Trump tariff effect: on March 10, Tesla's stock slid more than 15 per cent to $222.15, amid concerns and uncertainty around Mr Trump's planned tariffs.

It didn't last long, as the company's share price worked its way back up, peaking – for this period – at $288.14 on March 25, as Mr Trump signalled he might scale back some of the levies.

Mr Trump unveiled his Liberation Day tariffs on April 2. By April 8, investors were now raising concerns on how the company would cope with them: that combination pulled down Tesla's shares nearly 5 per cent to $221.86, its lowest since the March 10 slide.

This time, it seemed like a blip: the following day, April 9, Tesla shares soared more than 22 per cent after Benchmark Company analyst Mickey Legg dismissed the sell-off as “overblown”.

April 21, 2025: Dogged by Doge

Tesla shares gave up almost 6 per cent analyst fears that there was an “continuing brand erosion” stemming from Mr Musk’s role in the Trump administration.

Mr Musk and Tesla had already been feeling the backlash: consumers and the general public, particularly those incensed by his federal job and budget cutting, have protested outside Tesla stores and vandalised its EVs, in addition to Tesla owners "rebranding" their cars out of protest.

May 14, 2025: Tariff reprieve

Tesla gained more than 9 per cent to $347.68 from the close on May 12 – the day the US and China agreed to temporarily halt their tit-for-tat tariffs.

The company's stock would then remain largely steady, until Mr Musk departed from his role in the US government – leading to the public squabble with Mr Trump.