Tesla sales tumble to weakest since 2022 amid Musk backlash

Tesla has revealed sales plunged to their lowest for almost three years over the start of 2025.

The electric car manufacturer saw sales tumble 13% over the first quarter of the year amid international criticism of boss Elon Musk, the redesign of its key model and poor demand in China.

Shares dropped in pre-market trading as a result.

It told investors on Wednesday that it delivered the sale of 336,681 vehicles in the three months to the end of March.

This represented its weakest sales performance since the second quarter of 2022.

The latest sales figure was also significantly below the roughly 390,000 figure predicted by industry analysts.

Tesla said it produced 362,615 vehicles in total over the quarter.

The slump in sales came despite significant discounts, zero financing and other incentives by the company to stimulate demand.

Trading was significantly knocked by overhauls at the firm’s factories across the globe to make its redesigned Model Y car, resulting in major supply disruptions.

In a statement, the Texas-based company said: “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.

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

Weaker demand also came as Tesla chief executive Elon Musk’s involvement in US and global politics drew protests, particularly in Europe and Asia.

Figures from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) earlier this week showed that Tesla sales in the company have dropped by around 11.5% year-on-year.

Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “There’s no way to sugarcoat it, Tesla’s first-quarter delivery numbers are a disappointment, though many investors were already preparing for a soft number.

“A drop from last year is no surprise, but the scale is worse than many had expected.”