Elon Musk said he would spend “significantly” less time as a key adviser to President Donald Trump from next month and refocus his attention on Tesla, after the car company’s profits cratered in the past three months.

“Starting next month, [I will devote] far more of my time to Tesla,” Musk told investors on Tuesday. “The large slug of work necessary to get the [Department of Government Efficiency] team in place and working in the government to get the financial house in order is mostly done.”

The billionaire chief executive emphasised that he would not be leaving government completely, and that he would probably remain Doge’s figurehead until the end of the president’s term, “to make sure that the waste and fraud that we stop does not come roaring back”.