Tesla reports drop in sales for the first time in four years

For the first time in four years, Tesla recorded a drop in sales of electric cars in the first quarter of 2024. The reduction signals that the dominance of the largest company in this sector in the world is losing steam in the face of competition.

Accustomed to significant growth, Elon Musk’s company produced approximately 433 thousand vehicles and delivered around 387 thousand in the period – an 8.5% drop in sales compared to the first quarter of 2023.

The units delivered were well below market expectations, and the result led Tesla shares to fall 5% on Monday (1st).

Throughout this year, the company has seen a 30% drop in shares as a reflection of investor concerns. According to the newspaper The New York Timesthe company is not responding sufficiently to the intensification of competition.

While in China Tesla’s main competitor is BYD, in Europe, Volkswagen and BWM reinvent themselves with new products.

Tesla, in turn, in a press release, stated that the decline in volumes was due to upgrades at the factory in Fremont, California, for the initial phase of Model 3 production, to factory shutdowns caused by conflicts in the Sea Red and also due to an arson attack at GigaFactoty, in Berlin, Germany.

Sales of electric cars, in general, slowed down, including at competitor BYD.

In this context, despite the drop in production and sales, Tesla managed to regain its title as the largest seller of electric vehicles in the world, according to the website Nikkei Asia.

The position had been taken by the Chinese BYD, which in the first three months of 2023 recorded 300,114 vehicles sold.