But if you just listened in on the company’s call with analysts, you would have no idea why. For an earnings call, there was zero talk of, um, earnings. And the overall message from Tesla’s top brass seemed to be: We are a robotics and AI company, and, someday soon, it’s going to be awesome.

The fallout from Elon Musk’s plunge into politics a year ago is still hammering his Tesla business as both sales and profits dropped sharply again in the latest quarter.

Surveys have found that the company's brand reputation has taken a serious hit, particularly among liberal or Democratic car shoppers — who tend to be more likely, at least right now, to shop for an ...