"He's thinking about it": After his clash with Elon Musk, Donald Trump is ready to get rid of his red Tesla

Following the dramatic split between Donald Trump and Elon Musk , the US president could get rid of the electric car he bought last March to support the entrepreneur, according to a senior White House official on Friday.

"He is thinking about it, yes," the spokesperson told AFP when asked about the possibility of the American president selling or giving away his Tesla.

According to an AFP journalist, the red car was still parked in the White House parking lot on Friday, June 6, the day after the shattering split between Donald Trump and his former advisor Elon Musk .

Tesla's market capitalization has shrunk by tens of billions of dollars on Wall Street, with the stock closing down 14.26% on Thursday before recovering slightly at the opening on Friday.

The White House had been transformed into a Tesla dealership three months ago, when the Republican, posing in front of five of the brand's cars, had praised the qualities of electric vehicles, while Tesla's stock was being battered on the stock market and the manufacturer's sales were suffering from the unpopularity of its boss .

The president had set his sights on a red Tesla Model S, claiming to pay by check. Donald Trump added that he was "not allowed to drive because (he hadn't) driven a car for a long time," but specified that the car would be made available to his White House staff.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt and Donald Trump's communications advisor Margo Martin posed in the red car and posted the photo on X, the social network owned by Elon Musk, just last week.

The red car has thus become the unfortunate symbol of the break between the president and the former head of DOGE, the Commission on Government Efficiency.

Donald Trump said he was "very disappointed" by Elon Musk and his criticism of the president's "great and beautiful" budget bill . He threatened to cancel his contracts with the US government. Elon Musk responded by threatening to shut down his Dragon spacecraft, used by NASA to transport astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).