Summary of a television interview · Based on the recording of the conversation
In brief
In an interview with Bloomberg TV Bulgaria, Kliment Robev discusses Tesla’s weak first-quarter results and whether the company will get a second chance from investors. He describes the situation at Tesla as “controlled chaos” and argues that a recovery depends on Elon Musk’s return to the company, a clear long-term strategy and a quick improvement in its results. He also points to BYD as Tesla’s main rival not only in electric cars but in humanoid robots as well.
Key points
- He believes Elon Musk’s political role has done serious damage to Tesla’s reputation and that, to win back investors’ trust, Musk must once again put the company first – which is why his announcement that government work would take up only one or two days a week was well received.
- In his view, Tesla should take the best of both its businesses: its quality electric cars, where it holds around 40% of the US market, should provide stable cash flow, while the growth investors expect, given the still-high valuation, should come from its artificial intelligence projects.
- He calls the quarterly report genuinely weak, with profit down by around 70% and revenue by 9% year on year, and thinks plans for an affordable mass-market model would be a mistake, as Tesla should stay in the premium segment and target young, affluent buyers.
- He considers Tesla the carmaker least exposed to tariffs, since around 85% of the components of the cars it sells in the US are produced locally, and around 95% in the case of China.
- He argues that Tesla should avoid a price war with Chinese manufacturers and notes that BYD is taking a more pragmatic approach to humanoid robots, developing them as production capacity that cuts business costs, whereas Tesla is positioning its Optimus robots as a consumer product priced under $20,000, with its 2025 production target scaled back from 10,000 units to a few thousand.
- He warns that underestimating China in artificial intelligence is a mistake, as DeepSeek showed: in his view, China waits for the US to make the heavy capital investment and create the patents, and then optimises the process at a much lower cost.
Context
The conversation was prompted by Tesla’s first-quarter results, which showed a sharp fall in profit, against a background of shrinking sales in the European Union and criticism of Elon Musk’s role in Donald Trump’s administration. Musk had told investors he would scale back his work with the Department of Government Efficiency.
Views reflect his position at the date of publication and are not investment advice. Regulatory information
