Tesla electric vehicle red logos.
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Calls are mounting for Elon Musk to step down as Tesla CEO, as concern grows over the company’s rapid decline and the tech billionaire’s recent behaviour, as well as his involvement with Doge. But, are these calls justified, or is it just more scaremongering?
In a dramatic all-hands meeting on Thursday night, March 20, the billionaire CEO tried to calm nerves inside Tesla as the company’s stock continued to nosedive and its vehicles became targets of global protest – and, in some cases, arson.
“Stop being psycho,” Musk urged, referring to vandals who’ve torched Teslas and attacked charging stations across the US and Europe. The comments, made during a company-wide livestream, drew laughter from employees but hinted at the surreal pressure facing the world’s most polarising tech mogul.
Musk pleads: ‘Hang onto your stock’
Tesla shares have taken a pounding this year, plunging more than 40% while Musk has been in Washington, D.C., rubbing shoulders with President Donald Trump. But on Friday, March 21, after Musk’s late-night pep talk, the stock bounced back 5%, closing at $248.71.
Despite the chaos, Musk told staff they’re still in good hands: “Hang onto your stock,” he said, laying out his sci-fi vision with all the polish of a used car pitch – but with just as many questions under the bonnet.
“It’s very difficult like for people in the stock market… to imagine a future where suddenly a 10 million vehicle fleet has five to ten times the usefulness,” Musk said. “It does not compute. But it will compute in the future.”
Tesla cars ablaze and sales in freefall
There is no doubt that Musk is a true visionary. But, while he talks up robotaxis, humanoid helpers and AI-fuelled abundance, the real world is biting back. Tesla is facing slumping sales in Europe, China and parts of the US. Edmunds reported this week that owners are trading in their electric vehicles in record numbers.
Blame arguably lies partly with Trump-era tariffs on Chinese, Canadian and Mexican goods – key Tesla supply sources – and partly with the growing backlash against Musk himself. Protests have erupted globally, and Teslas have been set alight in what Musk described as a ‘near-apocalyptic media landscape.’
“If you read the news it feels like, you know, Armageddon,” Musk said. “I can’t walk past the TV without seeing a Tesla on fire. Like what’s going on? Some people… it’s like listen, I understand if you don’t wanna buy our product, but you don’t have to burn it down.”
Then came his now-viral line: “This is psycho. Stop being psycho!”
Calls for Musk to step away from Tesla?
There have been rumblings – and now they’re getting louder.
As Tesla battles plummeting sales, public protests, and fiery headlines (literally), some long-time shareholders are calling for Elon Musk to step aside as CEO before the damage gets any worse.
Their argument? Musk’s political detour to the White House has left Tesla on autopilot – and not the good kind.
One of the loudest voices is Ross Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki, who didn’t hold back during an interview with CNBC. Gerber slammed Musk’s “complete disassociation from his actions,” his involvement with Doge, and his growing tendency to “blame people for disagreeing with him” – warning that the Tesla brand is taking a daily beating.
At the heart of shareholder frustration lies a bitter irony: Tesla still makes what many call ‘the best electric vehicles on the market’, yet the company is steadily losing sales and market share across the globe.
And it’s not just investors raising red flags. Tesla owners themselves are growing anxious as protests escalate. In recent weeks, EVs have been vandalised, keyed and even torched in cities across the US and Europe – targeted by activists angry at Musk’s politics and power plays.
The calls for change are growing. Some argue that other Musk-run companies, like SpaceX and X (formerly Twitter), have already appointed CEOs – so why not Tesla?
Is it time for Musk to let someone else take the wheel? Or will shareholders be forced to ride out the chaos a little longer?
Tesla is betting big on bots
Musk spent much of the recent meeting hyping Tesla’s future tech: a new two-seater ‘Cybercab’ without steering wheels or brakes, and the Optimus humanoid robot, which he claims is ‘the most sophisticated humanoid robot on Earth.’
The Cybercab, he said, will debut in Austin, Texas, in June as part of a driverless ride-hailing service. As for Optimus, Musk says it’s now being assembled in Fremont, California, and Tesla plans to build around 5,000 this year.
At present, Optimus is ‘learning to walk and catch balls’ and has mostly been controlled by humans during demos. But Musk insists one day these bots will be as useful as Star Wars legends R2-D2 and C-3PO.
‘We will offer Optimus robots first to Tesla employees,’ he said. ‘There are some pluses and minuses to that – probably have a few bugs. But it’s gonna be very cool.’
A crowded race to the future
Musk’s ambitions won’t go unchallenged. Waymo – owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet – is already rolling out its driverless ride-hailing service in more US cities, including Austin. Meanwhile, Chinese EV brands like Zeekr are baking self-driving tech into their vehicles as standard.
On the robotics front, Boston Dynamics this week showed off its latest electric Atlas model doing gymnastics, while Apptronik and Unitree are also racing toward consumer-ready humanoids.
‘What’s the most exciting future you could possibly imagine?’ Musk asked his listeners. His answer: ‘A future of abundance for all… where you could literally just have anything you want.’ The tech mogul is betting big that Tesla will lead the robot race – even if, for now, it’s all a bit pie in the sky. Or is it?
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