Tesla sales are in an unprecedented slide. Competitors are rapidly gaining ground. There’s a lot of bad news for Tesla lately – but it’s unclear if the politics of its polarizing CEO, Elon Musk, are to blame.

Tesla's Cybercab, or robo-taxi, was announced last October and is due to hit the roads in Texas this June as part of a trial roll-out.

Is Elon Musk's political profile and BFF status with President Trump hurting sales of Austin-based Tesla? Maybe — but it's complicated, analysts say. Why it matters: Tesla is by far the U.S. electric vehicle sales leader and long the world's top seller (though it has recently been trading the lead with China's BYD).