Tesla sales fall in first months of 2025 amid Elon Musk backlash
Topic:Automotive Industry
15m ago15 minutes agoWed 2 Apr 2025 at 2:48pm
Elon Musk stands infront of the smashed windows of a Cybertruck
Elon Musk is the chief executive of Tesla. (AP: Ringo HW Chiu)
In short:
Tesla sales in the first three months of 2025 have fallen by a bigger-than-expected margin, will a slump in sales in the US, Europe and China.
It comes amid increased electric vehicle competition and chief executive Elon Musk's embrace of far-right politics.
What's next?
Chinese company BYD is set to unseat Tesla as the world's number one EV seller later this year.
Sales of Tesla electric vehicles have slumped 13 per cent in the first quarter of 2025, the company's worst quarterly result since 2022.
It comes amid strengthening competition in the car market and a backlash to chief executive Elon Musk's embrace of far-right politics.
The company's share price fell 2 per cent on Wednesday as the company recorded a bigger-than-expected drop in sales.
The company sold just 336,681 vehicles between January to March, roughly 50,000 fewer cars than for the same period last year.
Despite more people buying electric vehicles globally, Tesla's sales in Europe and China have slumped, ceding market share to local rivals.
Two men sitting in a red car laughing
Elon Musk has grown increasingly close to US President Donald Trump. (Reuters: Kevin Lamarque)
Mr Musk's political stance, which has seen back the far right AfD party in Germany and become increasingly close to US President Donald Trump, have also prompted vandalism against Tesla cars and dealerships globally.
Reacting to the sales news, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said it was a "disaster on every metric".
"We are not going to look at these numbers with rose-coloured glasses," he told Reuters.
"The Street and us knew a bad [first quarter] was coming but this was even worse than expected."
Mr Musk last year predicted 20 to 30 per cent sales growth in 2025, and promised to launch an affordable model in the first half of this year.
A burnt-out Tesla sits in front of a Tesla dealership
Tesla dealerships globally have been targeted by vandals. (AP: J'rn H'neke/dpa )
China's BYD is set to unseat Tesla as the top global EV seller for the first time this year with a 15.7 per cent market share, ahead of Tesla's 15.3 per cent, according to Counterpoint Research.
Tesla's sales in key European markets fell again in March, with sales in France and Sweden dropping for a third straight month.
Tesla began offering the refreshed Model Y with updated styling and enhanced interiors in China late February and in the U.S. and Europe last month.
Data from auto industry associations and analyst estimates point to notable declines in Tesla sales during the first two months of the year in the US, Europe, and China.
Posted15m ago15 minutes agoWed 2 Apr 2025 at 2:48pm
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