Tesla's Q1 Sales Are Nothing to Write Home About

Tesla's once-thriving electric car empire has hit a roadblock, with the company on Wednesday reporting that first-quarter sales slid 13%. Deliveries totaled 336,681 between January and March, down from 387,000 a year ago. That was well off from analysts' expectations of 408,000, reports the AP, though CNBC put the expectations lower, at deliveries between 360,000 and 370,000. The drop came despite significant discounts and zero-financing offers and is being attributed to a slew of factors, including increased competition, sluggish EV sales in general, backlash from Elon Musk's role in the Trump administration, and buyers waiting for the next version of the Model Y, which is due later this year.

The New York Times sees Norway as a bellwether: Nine out of 10 new cars sold in the country are electric, "so it hardly bodes well for Tesla that its sales in Norway have declined more than 12% so far this year," the paper notes. Q1 sales were even worse elsewhere in Europe, including in Denmark, France, the Netherlands, and Sweden. CNBC shares this take from Wedbush Securities analyst and Tesla proponent Dan Ives: "We knew 1Q Tesla deliveries would be soft but these numbers were bad. We are not going to look at these numbers with rose colored glasses ... they were a disaster on every metric. Refresh issues but brand crisis key. The time has come for Musk ... fork in the road moment for Tesla." (This content was created with the help of AI. Read our AI policy.)