Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he planned to buy a Tesla vehicle on early Tuesday to show support for the company’s CEO, Elon Musk — a few hours after Tesla shares plunged more than 15%, marking one of its worst trading days ever.
Three Tesla models—a Model S, Model Y, and Cybertruck—arrived at the White House on Tuesday. Standing alongside CEO Elon Musk, U.S. President Donald Trump praised Tesla and its vehicles before taking delivery of a Model S vehicle.
“I know people that have these cars; It blows them away. They love them,” Trump stated. “I happen to love the product; I want to pay full price.”
Speaking to the media, the U.S. President justified his decision and highlighted Musk’s efforts
“Number one, it’s a great product — as good as it gets — and number two, because he has devoted his energy and his life to doing this and I think he has been treated very unfairly.”
Tesla’s chief executive said that the company plans to double vehicle production in the United States within the next two years as it plans to start production of new, cheaper model later this year followed by the robotaxi model, the Cybercab.
Commenting on the Cybertruck model, the U.S. President said the model has “the coolest design.”
“In terms of imagination, and I think I have a pretty great imagination, who else but this guy would design this and everybody on the road is looking at it. As soon as I saw it, I said that’s the coolest design. You gotta give him (Elon) credit,” Trump said.
In his social media statement on Monday, the U.S. President had asked, “Why should he be punished for putting his tremendous skills to work in order to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN???”
Musk later shared a screenshot of Trump’s post on X, formerly Twitter, with the caption, “Thank you, President Donald Trump!”