In the January-March period, the company globally recorded a bigger-than-expected drop in sales to 336,681 vehicles, down from 386,810 units a year ago.
The expectation was for a 3.7 percent drop to 372,410 vehicles delivered, according to an average estimate of 15 analysts from Visible Alpha, but in recent days analysts had braced for even worse figures, following Tesla’s first-ever annual sales decline in 2024.
“The brand crisis issues are clearly having a negative impact on Tesla … there is no debate,” Tesla bull Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, said in a note, adding the delivery numbers “were a disaster.”
The company has lost about 45 percent of its value since mid-December. That follows a record high after Trump’s election win when investors expected Musk’s close ties to the White House to ease regulatory pressure over its self-driving taxi program.
Y REFRESH
Last year, Musk forecast 20 percent to 30 percent sales growth in 2025, promising to launch an affordable vehicle in the first half of the year and banking on demand for its newest vehicle, the Cybertruck.
While little is known about the progress on rolling out the cheaper vehicle, demand for the pricey Cybertruck, with its polarizing design and quality concerns, has been weak.
Musk did not reiterate the growth forecast on the January earnings call, saying Tesla would return to growth this year.
