California leads the USA in electrical automobile (EV) gross sales. For years, that has meant one factor first — increasingly Teslas gliding down San Francisco streets each month.
Not. Fortune reviews, “Tesla Inc. registered fewer automobiles in California in all 4 quarters of 2024.” Tesla gross sales fell 12% in the course of the yr and eight% in the course of the fourth quarter alone within the Golden State. Gross sales of its lowest-priced providing, the Mannequin 3, dropped by 36% in the course of the yr.
EV Gross sales Didn’t Slip in California. Tesla Gross sales Did.
A report from the California New Automotive Sellers Affiliation notes that, statewide, EV gross sales slid in 2024. Nonetheless, “The entire lower within the state market final yr was attributable to Tesla,” whereas “registrations for all different manufacturers elevated 1.4%.”
Nationwide, the corporate suffered its first-ever annual gross sales drop in 2024.
EV gross sales had been up in 2024, as People purchased 1.3 million EVs for the primary time. Nonetheless, Tesla’s command of the EV market slipped, with the corporate proudly owning a market share of below 50% all year long. It had managed greater than 75% in 2022.
The U.S. is hardly the corporate’s solely drawback spot.
Gross sales Dropping in Europe, China, Too
China has accounted for over a 3rd of Tesla’s world gross sales in recent times. Reuters reviews that Tesla gross sales “fell 11.5% to 63,238 models in January from a yr earlier, based on knowledge from the China Passenger Automotive Affiliation.”
In Germany, Tesla gross sales fell by a exceptional 59% in January alone, The New York Occasions reviews. Tesla gross sales dropped in all three of Europe’s largest markets. “Tesla’s gross sales plummeted 63% in France in January from a yr earlier, and 12% in Britain,” the Occasions notes.
Norway, dwelling to the world’s largest focus of EVs, noticed Tesla gross sales fall 38% final month.
Growing older Lineup Partly to Blame?
Blame could fall partly on a largely stale lineup. Solely the Cybertruck rides on an up-to-date 800-volt structure like rival fashions from Hyundai, Kia, Porsche, and others. 4 of Tesla’s 5 fashions experience on an older 400-volt system designed for the 2012 model-year debut of the Mannequin S. Tesla has given its Mannequin 3 and Mannequin Y visible updates, however the expertise that drives them trails what many rivals have to supply.
The corporate has not publicly disclosed the event of any high-volume new fashions. In a latest convention name with traders, firm executives promised lower-cost automobiles in 2025, however stated they’d probably be derived from present fashions.
Gross sales could, nevertheless, be slumping for causes that don’t have anything to do with the automobiles. InsideEVs notes, “one issue feels inescapable at this level: the backlash to Elon Musk’s elevated involvement in politics.”
Controversial CEO’s Political Campaign Could Be Hurting Gross sales
Electrek reviews, “Tesla shops have more and more turn out to be targets of vandals amid rising discontent with the corporate’s CEO.” A Loveland, Colorado, Tesla retailer was the goal of an arson try final week, the positioning notes.
Protestors lately projected the phrase “Heil Tesla” onto a Berlin manufacturing facility, whereas vandals spraypainted swastikas on a showroom in The Hague, the positioning reviews.
Regardless of the trigger, the gross sales hunch seems to have spooked some high-profile traders. Beneath securities legislation, public firms should report inventory gross sales by executives and board members.
Electrek notes that Tesla Chief Monetary Officer Vaibhav Taneja, Board of Administrators head Robyn Denholm, and board member Kimbal Musk (youthful brother of the CEO) have all offered tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} price of Tesla inventory this month.
Tesla inventory traded at over $424 when markets opened after inauguration day in January. It sits at simply over $360 at press time for this text.
