US Market
Sales of Tesla electric cars fell sharply in the last three months as boycotts over Elon Musk’s political views continue to keep buyers away, a significant development given expectations that anger with the company’s billionaire CEO would have faded by now.
The 13 per cent sales plunge over a year earlier suggests Musk’s embrace of United States President Donald Trump and far-right politicians in Europe has had a deep and enduring impact on Tesla’s brand appeal. The new figures reported by Tesla on Wednesday also show rival electric-vehicle makers have wasted no time pouncing on the company’s weakness to steal market share, and signals Tesla’s quarterly earnings report later this month could also disappoint.
Sales fell to 384,122 in April through June, down from 443,956 in the same three months last year. During the latest period, Musk formally left the Trump administration as a cost-cutting csar, and hopes rose that sales would recover. Musk himself recently said that Tesla was in the midst of a “major rebound” in sales.
Still, some parts of the report were encouraging. Sales of the Models 3 and Y totalled 373,728, above the estimate of 356,000 from Wall Street analysts. Tesla shares rose 4.6 per cent in afternoon trading.
“The numbers weren’t as bad as thought with all the analyst forecast cuts we saw over the past week,” said Morningstar’s Seth Goldstein, though he added the report overall showed the company faces big challenges. “The current product line-up is at market saturation and Tesla will need the new affordable vehicle to grow deliveries.”