Sales of Elon Musk’s Tesla Plunge, Marking a “Disastrous” Decline for the Billionaire

Tesla has seen a significant decrease in global sales due to increased competition and a slowdown in demand for electric vehicles.

The carmaker reported delivering 386,810 vehicles in the first quarter of the year, a drop of almost 9% from the 423,000 delivered in the same period last year.

This decline marks the first year-on-year quarterly sales drop for the company in almost four years.

Tesla attributed the decrease to various factors, including disruption to shipping in the Red Sea region, an arson attack at its gigafactory in Berlin, and the rollout of an updated version of its Model 3 sedan at its factory in Fremont, California.

Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, acknowledged that rival electric carmaker BYD had also experienced a decline in sales.

In a statement on X, Musk mentioned, “This was a challenging quarter for everyone.”

However, some analysts attributed the sales decline to controversies surrounding Musk, increased competition, and a waning interest in electric vehicles.

Tech analyst Dan Ives described the results as “an unmitigated disaster,” warning that Musk needed to reverse the company’s fortunes to avoid potential disruption to Tesla’s long-term narrative.

Just days ago, market intelligence firm Caliber suggested that Musk’s political views and public statements were deterring some customers from buying a Tesla.

Caliber CEO Shahar Silbershatz stated, “It’s likely that Musk himself is contributing to the decline in Tesla’s reputation.”

Tesla did not respond to requests for comment regarding these claims.

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In recent years, Tesla’s reputation has suffered due to product recalls, lawsuits, and safety concerns.

Despite these challenges, Tesla’s Chinese competitor BYD also reported a drop in sales, selling just over 300,100 vehicles in the first quarter, a 43% decline from the previous record quarter.

Despite regaining its position as the world’s largest seller of electric vehicles, Tesla’s sales figures fell below Wall Street expectations, causing its Nasdaq shares to drop almost 5% by the end of Tuesday.

Over 96% of the vehicles sold by Tesla in the first quarter were Model 3s and Ys. The company also recently launched its controversial “futuristic” Cybertruck, which has received mixed reviews from car enthusiasts.

Tesla is expected to release its full financial results for the first quarter on April 23.