- On Tuesday, President Donald Trump held a promotional event for Tesla at the White House.
- Elon Musk accompanied him and the two essentially provided a sales pitch about the automaker.
- Their efforts led to a slight bump in Tesla stock price after an abysmal few months.
Tesla appears to have a new pop-up showroom location, and it’s none other than the White House itself. US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk took to the South Lawn on Tuesday to discuss the company’s electric cars and some of the backlash its CEO is facing. A note held by Trump even appeared—at least to some observers—to be a full-blown sales pitch to the American people.
It’s no secret Musk and Tesla have been under increasing scrutiny, largely due to the former’s political stances. His role at the Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE) hasn’t exactly smoothed things over either. Sensing an opportunity to show support, Trump took to social media Monday night to make a grand declaration: he was going to buy a Tesla.
Read: Tesla’s Stock Collapses In Its Biggest Drop In 5 Years Wiping Out $800 Billion
“I’m going to buy a brand new Tesla tomorrow morning as a show of confidence and support for Elon Musk, a truly great American,” he wrote. On Tuesday, the two appeared at the White House with an entire showroom worth of Teslas. An image captured by a press photographer shows Trump holding a piece of paper that lists each car with its price and highlights that they’re all available with Full Self-Driving and for as little as $299 a month or $35,000.
Trump praised Tesla and Musk saying “because, number one it’s a great product, as good as it gets, and number two, because this man (pointing at Musk) has devoted his energy and his life to doing this, and I think he’s been treated very unfairly by a very small group of people.”
The President also claimed that he’ll buy a Model S for himself and a Cybertruck for his granddaughter. Notably, sitting presidents aren’t allowed to drive but perhaps Trump could change the rule for himself.
Perhaps the event at the White House was Musk’s way to do a little damage control. It does seem to have at the very least pumped the stock. It’s up over eight percent today as of this writing.
According to a Wedbush Securities analyst who spoke to CNN, “The DOGE efforts has now intertwined Tesla into this brewing political firestorm. If Musk continues to head down the DOGE path 110% and showing no attention to Tesla during this turbulent time then brand damage will become more pervasive.”
It’s worth noting that Joe Biden once held a White House press conference celebrating American-made EVs—but didn’t invite Tesla. GM, Ford, and Stellantis were all in attendance, though unlike Trump, Biden stopped short of publicly pledging to buy a specific vehicle.