Shares of Tesla soared Wednesday following an election that will send Donald Trump back to the White House, an outcome that had been strongly backed by CEO Elon Musk in the closing months of the race.
Tesla stands to make significant gains under a Trump administration with the threat of diminished subsidies for alternative energy and electric vehicles doing the most harm to smaller competitors.
Tesla dominates sales of electric vehicles in the U.S. with 48.9 per cent in market share through the middle of 2024, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Tesla shares jumped 13 per cent Wednesday while shares of rival electric vehicle makers tumbled.
Trump has proposed tariffs of 10 per cent to 20 per cent on foreign goods that would also impact electric vehicle maker’s outside the U.S., especially in China, and shares of EV makers there slid as well in U.S. markets.
“Tesla has the scale and scope that is unmatched,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, in a note to investors. “This dynamic could give Musk and Tesla a clear competitive advantage in a non-EV subsidy environment, coupled by likely higher China tariffs that would continue to push away cheaper Chinese EV players.”
Subsidies for clean energy are part of the Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022. It included tax credits for manufacturing, along with tax credits for consumers of electric vehicles.
Shares of rival EV maker Rivian plunged nine per cent and Lucid Group fell 3.1 per cent. NIO, a Chinese EV maker, slid six per cent.
Musk was one of Trump’s biggest donors, putting more than US$70 million of his own money into the presidential run and other GOP causes. He also pledged to give away US$1 million a day to voters signing a petition for his political action committee.
Yet it has been a rocky year for Tesla, with sales and profit declining through the first half of the year. Profit did rise 17.3 per cent in the third quarter.
The U.S. opened an investigation into the company’s “Full Self-Driving” system after reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian. The investigation covers roughly 2.4 million Teslas from the 2016 through 2024 model years.
And investors sent company shares tumbling last month after Tesla unveiled its long-awaited robotaxi at a Hollywood studio Thursday night, seeing not much progress at Tesla on autonomous vehicles while other companies have been making notable progress.
Tesla began selling the software, which is called “Full Self-Driving,” nine years ago. But there are doubts about its reliability.