- Tesla deliveries dropped 20.2 percent compared to the last financial quarte
- Wedbush analyst described quarter as ‘a train wreck into a brick wall’ for Musk
Tesla sales plunged 7 percent this morning after the electric vehicle maker reported its largest-ever decline in deliveries.
The world’s most valuable automaker handed over 386,810 vehicles in January, February and March, down 20.2 percent from the prior quarter.
Wall Street on average expected Tesla to deliver about 460,000 vehicles, but some analysts started reducing their expectations to the low 400,000s in recent weeks.
‘While we were anticipating a bad 1Q, this was an unmitigated disaster 1Q that is hard to explain away,’ Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a research note on Tuesday.
‘This was a train wreck into a brick wall quarter for Musk,’ he added.
Tesla sales plunged 7 percent this morning after the electric vehicle maker reported its first decline in deliveries since the pandemic. Pictured: CEO Elon Musk
Wall Street on average expected Tesla to deliver about 460,000 vehicles, so Tesla fell short by more than 15 percent
It is more bad news for Tesla, whose share price has taken a battering this year. The latest tumble has left the stock down 33 percent since the beginning of the year – the largest decline of any S&P 500 company.
Quarterly deliveries are an important measure of Tesla’s health and can be viewed by investors as a proxy for sales.
It also reported on Tuesday that it produced a total of 433,391 cars over the quarter. The Model 3 and Y make up the overwhelming majority of its sales and deliveries.
The carmaker produced 412,376 Model 3/Y cars and delivered 369,783.
Musk has previously alluded to a period poor sales, saying the company is ‘between two major growth waves’.
He claimed the first wave was triggered by the release of affordable models like the Model 3, which started shipping in 2017, and later the Model Y, which started shipping in 2022. The two vehicles are among the best-selling EVs in the world.
The next wave will come when the company brings to the market its next-generation affordable electric car. That is not expected to go into production until next year.
‘We view this as a seminal moment in the Tesla story for Musk to either turn this around and reverse the black eye 1Q performance,’ said Ives. ‘Otherwise, some darker days could clearly be ahead that could disrupt the long-term Tesla narrative.’
This is a breaking news story, please check back for updates
