Man faces charges after Teslas set on fire with Molotov cocktails

(CNN) — Tesla sales plunged 13% in the first three months of this year, the largest drop in deliveries in its history, as backlash against CEO Elon Musk and growing competition took a large bite out of demand for its EVs.

Tesla reported Wednesday that it delivered 336,681 cars in the quarter, 50,000 fewer vehicles compared to the first three months of last year. The results were the company’s worst sales in nearly three years.

Tesla has faced protests outside its showrooms from those opposed to the actions of Musk in one of his other roles as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, and the policies of Donald Trump’s presidential administration. There have also been instances of vandalism against Tesla facilities, including its charging stations, as well as some cars. All these incidents may have discouraged some potential Tesla buyers from going ahead with their purchases.

Tesla did not mention the protests against the company in its sales statement. It did, however, point to an update to the Model Y during the quarter that temporarily halted production at all four of its factories for several weeks.

“Thank you to all our customers, employees, suppliers, shareholders and supporters who helped us achieve these results,” the company said.

The decline is stunning for a company that until recently was reporting year-over-year sales growth of between 20% and 100% virtually every quarter, a rate greatly responsible for its lofty stock price. Tesla’s first modest drop in quarterly sales only occurred in 2020 during the pandemic when shutdowns hit production and deliveries.

But last year, Tesla reported its first annual decline in sales, which accelerated in the first quarter. The plunge was worse than expected by Tesla analysts, who had forecast quarterly sales as low as 350,000.Then

Tesla shares, which nearly doubled in value after the presidential election on hopes that Musk’s close ties to Trump would result in policies that were advantageous to the company, have lost 44% of their value since hitting an all-time high in December. Shares of Tesla (TSLA) fell about 2% in early trading following the sales report, but rebounded sharply on a Politico report that Musk will be stepping back from his formal role in the Trump administration but may stay on as an informal adviser.

Musk ‘brand tornado crisis’ hits sales

Analysts continue to worry that Musk’s actions elsewhere are hurting Tesla.

“The Street and us knew a bad 1Q was coming but this was even worse than expected,” said Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities, who has been a bull on Tesla, in a note to clients Wednesday. “This quarter was an example of the damage Musk is causing Tesla. This continues to be a moment of truth for Musk to navigate this brand tornado crisis and get onto the other side of this dark chapter for Tesla.”

With his high profile, confrontational statements and postings on social media, Musk has become a lightning rod for people opposed to the policies of the Trump administration.

A CNN poll last month found just 35% of Americans express a positive view of Musk, with 53% rating him negatively, making him both better known and more substantially unpopular than Vice President JD Vance (whom 33% of Americans rate favorably and 44% unfavorably.)

Those negative opinions of Musk are bleeding over into negative views of Tesla, especially among those who identify as liberals. Those Americans are a segment of the car buying market most likely to be interested in buying a green electric vehicle.

And polling indicates Tesla is losing favor. A February poll by Morning Consult shows that nearly 32% of US buyers “would not consider” buying a Tesla. That’s up from 27% in a Morning Consult survey a year ago, and 17% in 2021.

S&P Global Mobility, which tracks sales on a state-by-state basis, said there has been a big change in customer loyalty between so-called “blue states,” which have voted for a Democrat in the last four presidential elections, and “red states” where Republicans won.

In blue states, the percentage of current Tesla owners buying another Tesla fell to 65% at the end of 2024 from 72% the year before. Meanwhile, repeat Tesla buyers in red states edged up very slightly from 47.6% to 48.2% during the same time period.

Problems with sales outside United States

Tesla does not break out its sales by market. But sales fell 49% in Europe alone in the first two months of the quarter, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, even as EV sales overall grew 28% on the continent.

That may be due to opposition to Musk in Europe, thanks to his vocal support of far-right political parties in Germany and the United Kingdom.

But even without the political controversy, Tesla is facing headwinds due to growing competition from other automakers, particularly those in China.

China is the largest market for EVs and Tesla’s second largest market, after the United States. Chinese automaker BYD reported sales of more than 416,000 pure electric passenger vehicles in the quarter, a 39% rise from a year earlier, once again overtaking Tesla as the world’s largest seller of EVs.

BYD has pulled ahead ahead of Tesla in EV sales for a number of quarters in recent years, although Tesla has always maintained the lead in full-year sales. But Tesla is poised to lose that title in 2025, given current sales trends.

BYD’s EVs are generally less expensive than Tesla, among other advantages. Earlier this month, BYD unveiled a charging system that it says will give its latest EV model 250 miles of range after plugging in for just five minutes.

But despite the competition abroad, BYD and most other Chinese EV makers do not have a presence in the US market.

This story has been updated with additional reporting and context.

CNN’s Ariel Edwards-Levy, Juliana Liu, Hassan Tayir and John Liu contributed to this report.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the decline in Tesla sales. Tesla sales fell 13% last quarter.

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