California leads the US in electrical car (EV) gross sales. For years, that has meant one factor first — an increasing number of Teslas gliding down San Francisco streets each month.
Not. Fortune stories, “Tesla Inc. registered fewer vehicles in California in all 4 quarters of 2024.” Tesla gross sales fell 12% through the 12 months and eight% through the fourth quarter alone within the Golden State. Gross sales of its lowest-priced providing, the Mannequin 3, dropped by 36% through the 12 months.
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 12 months 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 have 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 beneath 50% all year long. It had managed greater than 75% in 2022.
The U.S. is hardly the corporate’s solely downside 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 stories that Tesla gross sales “fell 11.5% to 63,238 items in January from a 12 months earlier, in accordance with information from the China Passenger Automotive Affiliation.”
In Germany, Tesla gross sales fell by a outstanding 59% in January alone, The New York Instances stories. Tesla gross sales dropped in all three of Europe’s largest markets. “Tesla’s gross sales plummeted 63% in France in January from a 12 months earlier, and 12% in Britain,” the Instances notes.
Norway, residence to the world’s largest focus of EVs, noticed Tesla gross sales fall 38% final month.
Ageing Lineup Partly to Blame?
Blame might 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 journey 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 opponents have to supply.
The corporate has not publicly disclosed the event of any high-volume new fashions. In a current convention name with buyers, firm executives promised lower-cost vehicles in 2025, however stated they’d doubtless be derived from present fashions.
Gross sales might, nonetheless, be slumping for causes that don’t have anything to do with the vehicles. 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 stories, “Tesla shops have more and more grow 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 location notes.
Protestors lately projected the phrase “Heil Tesla” onto a Berlin manufacturing facility, whereas vandals spraypainted swastikas on a showroom in The Hague, the location stories.
Regardless of the trigger, the gross sales hunch seems to have spooked some high-profile buyers. Beneath securities regulation, 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 bought tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} value 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.