Tesla gross sales hit a brand new low, with the corporate reporting a 14 % drop in second-quarter car deliveries in comparison with a yr in the past.
The corporate mentioned that it produced a complete of 410,244 autos between April–June of this yr, together with 396,835 Mannequin 3 and Mannequin Y autos, in addition to 13,409 “different autos” just like the Mannequin S, Mannequin X, and Cybertruck. That represents a minor 0.1 % drop in comparison with the second quarter of 2024, when the corporate produced 410,831 autos.
Tesla additionally mentioned that it delivered a complete of 384,122 autos, together with 373,728 Mannequin 3 and Mannequin Y autos, in addition to 10,394 different autos — a 14 % decline in comparison with the second quarter of 2024, when it delivered 443,956 autos. (For a direct-to-consumer firm like Tesla, deliveries are a proxy for gross sales.)
Expectations had been fairly grim for this quarter, with UBS predicting an 18 % lower in deliveries yr over yr, and Barclay estimating 375,000 autos bought. Tesla could have outperformed these expectations, however the firm remains to be on a gradual decline since reporting its first year-over-year gross sales drop since 2020 final yr.
It was one other troubling signal for the as soon as high-flying EV firm because it continues to wrestle with rising competitors, stagnant demand for electrical autos, and a rising backlash towards Elon Musk’s political actions inside President Donald Trump’s administration. The Tesla Takedown protest motion, which started earlier this yr, has focused a whole bunch of Tesla dealerships world wide in an effort to erode the corporate’s gross sales even additional.
Final month, Musk introduced that he was stepping away from his place on the Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) amid a bitter feud with Trump — however insisted that DOGE’s controversial cost-cutting efforts would proceed. Nonetheless, his fame within the US has plummeted, with a majority of individuals saying they’ve a unfavourable view of him. His claims to have saved the federal government a trillion {dollars} by slashing “waste, fraud, and abuse” appear to have been largely overstated.
There have been different worrying indicators forward of the Q2 report. Tesla’s gross sales in Europe have been in a severe droop with 5 straight consecutive months of decline, in keeping with registration knowledge from the European Union. In China, the corporate’s gross sales proceed to lower as home manufacturers like BYD seize extra market share. (Tesla doesn’t get away gross sales regionally, so registration knowledge from Europe and China are watched intently.)
Throughout Q1, Tesla attributed a number of the drop in gross sales to design and manufacturing modifications for the newly refreshed Mannequin Y. However now the revamped EV is extensively out there, and the automaker’s numbers are nonetheless going within the unsuitable course.
There’s been internal turmoil at Tesla, too. Final week, Omead Afshar, Tesla’s VP of producing and a longtime Musk ally, left the corporate — with some experiences suggesting he was fired. His departure follows that of Milan Kovac, head of the Optimus humanoid robotic challenge, earlier this month.
The launch of Tesla’s long-delayed robotaxi service was additionally a little bit of a bust. As a substitute of the “unsupervised” autos that Musk had promised at first of this yr, the robotaxis featured Tesla-employed security screens within the entrance passenger seat. A number of movies of the service in motion confirmed important security lapses, together with a robotaxi driving over the double yellow line into the alternative lane of site visitors and braking arduous in the course of the street for no motive.