Elon Musk intends to focus more on his job as Tesla CEO, but it’s unclear if the billionaire will be able to solve a big problem of his own making: damage to its brand.

By Akash Sriram and Abhirup Roy (Reuters) -Tesla investors breathed a sigh of relief after CEO Elon Musk said he would refocus his attention on the electric automaker, but that promise did not entirely dispel worries that his right-wing shift had irrevocably damaged the company's brand.

Tesla peppered its latest earnings call with pledges to launch commercial robotaxi operations soon, with CEO Elon Musk promising that autonomous vehicles will "move the financial needle in a significant way" by late next year.

Tesla's (NASDAQ: TSLA) stock has come down considerably since the year began. Shares are down roughly 30% in value so far this year, with the stock's price-to-sales ratio falling from over 15 to just 9.

President Donald Trump said he would like to keep Elon Musk “for a long time” after the billionaire announced he would devote fewer hours to the Department of Government Efficiency and focus his attention on Tesla.

For Tesla, the quarterly financial consequences of Musk’s decision to wield the hatchet for Trump’s attack on federal jobs, public programs and civil society couldn’t be clearer. In the longer run, Tesla faces big-world challenges,