Britt Jones
Elon Musk has publicly announced an ‘ambitious’ pledge after President Donald Trump stepped in and bought a Tesla to support his right-hand man.
Ever since Musk was appointed co-lead of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), we’ve been seeing him out and about with the US president a lot more.
But what wasn’t expected was a range of Tesla models, including electric cars and a Cybertruck, to be parked outside of the White House on Tuesday (March 11).
At the time, Trump declared that he would 'support' Musk's 'baby' - AKA the businessman's automotive company.
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Tesla has lost half its value in three months, and as its share price recently reached a new low, the president took Truth Social to accuse 'the Radical Left Lunatics' of 'trying to illegally and collusively boycott Tesla'.
Therefore, to support Musk, Trump revealed he was going to buy a 'brand new Tesla' - despite not being allowed to drive.
In videos and images of the moment Trump was looking at the cars, a piece of paper in his hand caught the eye of viewers.
They were handwritten details of all of the models, prices and features.
It also noted: "Teslas can be purchased as low as $299/month of $35k. All cars have self driving, just needs to be turned on (fee)."
While there’s no friend discount being given as Trump told reporters at the White House that he wanted to 'pay full price' for his vehicle, it does seem a little odd that he’s buying a car as a way to show support to Musk instead of putting in a good public word.
Surely that would cost him a few hundred thousand dollars less?
Anyway, Musk has since claimed that his company will be making a big promise, that’ll help his stock grow further.
Taking to Twitter on Tuesday, the tech mogul wrote: "In support of the policies of President @realDonaldTrump and to demonstrate our confidence in the future of the United States, @Tesla commits to doubling vehicle production in the US within 2 years!"
However, this pledge has left many skeptical, as one person wrote: "Don’t you need demand to do that."
A second commented: "And halving the price?"
But then another piped up and brought up the possibility that the ‘leftist’ protesters who have allegedly been targeting Tesla cars have been ‘paid’ to do so.
They said: "Sounds ambitious! But with people driving Teslas being attacked by vicious, leftist, paid ‘protesters,’ how are you going to sell all of those cars? Overseas? I would buy one if I could afford it, because I live in a very conservative area."
It doesn’t seem as though Musk’s declaration has gone down too well.