In a wide ranging two-hour livestream on X (formerly Twitter), former president and current Republican nominee Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk touched on several topics. A couple of them, which matter to both men for different reasons, were cars and . Musk argued that the oil and gas industry should not be vilified, yet he stressed the importance of moving away from it, as oil and gas are not “infinite” resources.
And when it comes to electric vehicles, Musk said that caring about the environment does not mean you have to suffer. “So we make sure that our cars are beautiful, that they drive well, that they’re fast, they’re, you know, sexy. I mean, they’re cool,” he said.
As for Trump, he told Musk that he has a “great product,” but “that doesn’t mean everybody should have an electric car.” “And we’re gonna drill, baby, drill” added Trump. Interestingly, both men’s views around EVs and climate change can at first seem antithetical.
Yet, as Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note, while a Trump presidency “would be an overall negative for the EV industry, as likely the EV rebates/tax incentives get pulled,” for Tesla, it could be another story. “Tesla has the scale and scope that is unmatched in the EV industry, and this dynamic could give Musk and Tesla a clear competitive advantage in a non-EV subsidy environment,” wrote Ives. Shares were down 18.
2% year to date and 20.2% over the past month as of Aug. 15.
Wedbush Secur.