EV carmaker Tesla just released its unexpectedly disappointing first-quarter sales report, showing a drop in revenue for the first time since the pandemic. Although the company pointed to a sluggish Chinese economy, supply issues because of conflicts in the Middle East and arson at its factory Germany, there are more issues than that, wrote Peter Valdes-Dapena for CNN.
He also ascribes the problem with the business’ failure to launch new products at a rate that maintains consumers, as well as a general societal shift of many people not wanting to support CEO Elon Musk. Outside of Tesla itself, EV vehicle sales have flattened overall recently—though Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Rivian reported EV sales growth of more than 50% over the past year, according to Cox Automotive analyst Stephanie Valdez Streaty.
“Looking at the data, the big [EV] slowdown is shaping up to be a Tesla slowdown,” Valdez Streaty said.
Tesla sales still comprised around 56% of all EV vehicles in 2023, but it’s a drastic decline from the 80% in 2019. “When Americans lose interest in Teslas, it can look like an overall lack of interest in electric vehicles,’ Valdes-Dapena wrote, but EV sales in the U.S. grew 15% between Q1 2023 and Q1 2024.
