TLDR
- Former Tesla general manager Matthew Labrot claims it’s “game over” for Tesla under Elon Musk’s leadership, citing customer backlash over Musk’s political views
- Tesla sales dropped 49% in Europe in April and 13% globally in Q1 2025, while overall EV market grew 34.1%
- Tesla’s robotaxi service launches June 22 in Austin, Texas, with Wall Street analysts split on potential impact
- Analyst price targets range from $100 to $500 per share, showing extreme disagreement about Tesla’s future
- Tesla stock down 19% year-to-date but up 85% over past 12 months, trading around $326
Tesla faces mounting pressure from multiple fronts as sales decline, political controversy swirls, and the company prepares for its robotaxi service launch.
Matthew Labrot, a former Tesla general manager with five years at the company, delivered harsh criticism of CEO Elon Musk in a recent interview. Labrot founded Tesla Employees Against Elon before losing his job days later.
“It’s time to say the quiet part out loud,” Labrot wrote in an anonymous letter to Tesla workers. “Let’s be clear: we are not the problem. Our products are not the problem. Our engineering, service, and delivery teams are not the problem. The problem is demand. The problem is Elon.”
Labrot pointed to Musk’s increasingly political social media presence as damaging Tesla’s brand. He noticed customers becoming hesitant to purchase Tesla vehicles as Musk’s views aligned with industries opposing sustainable energy.
“We noticed customers, return customers, shying away from us a little bit,” Labrot told Hard Reset. “And that’s when I started to see the things he was putting on Twitter and the political views he started to have.”
The sales data supports Labrot’s concerns. Tesla’s European sales dropped 49% in April compared to the previous year. This decline occurred while overall electric vehicle sales in Europe increased 34.1%.
Globally, Tesla sales fell 13% in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. The company expects to deliver about 400,000 cars in the second quarter, down 10% from 444,000 delivered in Q2 2024.
Robotaxi Launch Creates Wall Street Division
Tesla’s robotaxi service launches June 22 in Austin, Texas. The launch has created sharp disagreements among Wall Street analysts about Tesla’s future direction.
Robotaxi pic.twitter.com/xNOqFTuIhm
— Adan Guajardo (@AdanGuajardo) June 14, 2025
CFRA analyst Garrett Nelson expects the launch to be “largely anticlimactic and lacking the fanfare of last October’s Robotaxi Day.” He rates Tesla shares as Hold with a $320 price target.
Piper Sandler analyst Alexander Potter takes a different view. He rates shares Buy with a $400 price target and expects “the stock to sustain upward momentum in the coming weeks as more information is disclosed.”
Tesla stock has risen almost 40% since the first-quarter earnings call when management confirmed the June robotaxi timeline. The stock traded at $326.18 in premarket trading Tuesday, down 0.9%.
Analyst Targets Show Extreme Disagreement
The wide range of analyst opinions reflects Tesla’s controversial nature on Wall Street. Price targets range from roughly $100 to $500 per share, creating a $400 spread that exceeds 100% of the current stock price.
Wells Fargo analyst Colin Langan represents the bearish camp with a Sell rating and $120 price target. He cited worsening fundamentals and reduced zero-emission vehicle credit sales following regulatory changes under the Trump administration.
“Fundamentals are coming in worse than we expected,” Langan wrote in a Tuesday report. He expects the regulatory changes to weigh on Tesla’s earnings and free cash flow.
The average analyst price target sits at about $308 per share. However, this average masks the extreme disagreement among Wall Street professionals about Tesla’s prospects.
Tesla stock remains down 19% year-to-date despite gaining 85% over the past 12 months. The company faces its robotaxi launch this week while dealing with declining vehicle sales and ongoing political controversy surrounding its CEO.
Labrot doesn’t see a path forward for Tesla under current leadership. “I don’t think that there’s anything he can do to change the people’s opinion that have decided they’re not going to support Tesla outside of him leaving,” he said. “I think for Tesla, as far as vehicle sales go, it’s game over.”
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