- Tesla's deliveries dropped by 13% in Q1 amid continued backlash to Elon Musk's role in the Trump administration.
- The automaker delivered 336,681 vehicles globally in the quarter, its worst result in over two years.
- The Cybertruck has not performed well, and buyers may been waiting for an updated Model Y.
Tesla on Wednesday said it delivered 336,681 vehicles globally in the first quarter of 2025. The U.S. automaker's lowest quarterly delivery figure in over two years comes as the brand faces unprecedented backlash due to Tesla CEO Elon Musk's controversial role in government.
Q1's delivery numbers came in 13% below the same period last year, when sales took a dive and demand for Teslas started looking far weaker than in years past. And the firm's delivery figures haven't been looking great for quite some time now. After years of gangbusters sales growth, the automaker delivered slightly fewer cars in 2024 than in 2023. That was its first annual drop in deliveries in over a decade, though it still kept its title as the world's biggest EV maker by sales with 1.79 million deliveries.
The anemic sales report on Wednesday wasn't exactly unexpected. Sales reports and estimates from markets around the world throughout the start of 2025 have shown that demand is plummeting in certain regions. And that's even as electric vehicle sales globally continue to tick upward. In February, Tesla sold 76% fewer cars in Germany than it did during the same month in 2024, for example.
Tesla faces a whirlwind of problems. Tesla hasn't released a long-promised more affordable model yet, something it says it's planning to launch this year. Its only brand-new vehicle in years was the Cybertruck, a niche, expensive vehicle that's not selling nearly as well as Tesla would've liked. Cybertruck sales were roughly cut in half between their best month last September and February, according to data from Cox Automotive. Tesla did give the Model 3 sedan a much-needed makeover last year, but that hasn't been enough to juice sales.
The Model Y, Tesla's most popular vehicle by far, also just received a refresh. That likely has something to do with the sales drop this past quarter, as Tesla's factories ramp up production and customers wait for the new model.
"While the changeover of Model Y lines across all four of our factories led to the loss of several weeks of production in Q1, the ramp of the New Model Y continues to go well," Tesla said in its delivery report Wednesday. And yet, the company said it produced about 26,000 more vehicles than it delivered in Q1.
Meanwhile, it's up against more competition than ever. Chinese automakers like BYD are innovating at a relentless pace and, by and large, seem to be living in 2030. Tesla jumpstarted the global EV industry. Now it's losing market share and risks being left behind. Counting both pure EV and plug-in hybrid sales, BYD sold more electrified vehicles in March than Tesla did all quarter.
But all those challenges—relatively standard parts of running a business—pale in comparison to the Musk of it all. Studies have shown that Musk's ties with the Trump administration and his controversial slash-and-burn methods of cutting costs in the federal government are putting off potential buyers. And the impacts here are plain to see: Protests have hit Tesla stores worldwide for weeks, and the automaker's stock has plummeted this year. It's down over 30% this year, and fell 2% on Wednesday morning's news.
The next few quarters—especially how the new Model Y does in the market, and what happens after Musk leaves his temporary government position—will show whether this is a blip in the Tesla story, or a tornado.
