Tesla records worst deliveries in two years amid Elon Musk backlash; Rivian starts a challenging year with a big slip in deliveries
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Tesla recorded 336,681 deliveries, its worst quarterly performance in more than two years as the brand suffers a backlash to CEO Elon Musk's political maneuverings.

The dip in sales comes as Musk continues leading Doge, the, quote, advisory body, unquote, that has laid off thousands of federal employees and attempted to eliminate entire agencies and programs. His involvement in the government has not only proven controversial, but also unpopular, leading many to wonder what effect it might have on Tesla sales.

Even one of Tesla's top supporters on Wall Street recently beseeched Musk to spend less time on politics and more time running his businesses.

Sales were down from 495,570 in Q4 2024 and 386,810 in the first quarter of last year. Tesla also released production numbers of 362,615, which is down from previous periods in part due to the automaker switching its production lines for the new Model Y refresh, which went on sale globally in March.

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, Tesla said in a statement. Analysts, on average, expected Tesla to report deliveries of 408,000 EVs for the period of January to March, per FactSet.

Though in recent weeks, several analysts downgraded their expectations to below 400,000 as Tesla takedown protests erupted across the country and international sales fell. Tesla doesn't break down its delivery numbers by region, but sales in Europe and China have fallen in the first quarter.

In the first two months of the year, European sales tumbled 49% year over year, even as sales of EVs overall grew per the European Automobile Manufacturers Association. In Germany, home to one of Tesla's gigafactories and usually one of Tesla's largest EU markets,

Those numbers are down even further. In February, Tesla sales in Germany were down 76% to just 1,429 units compared to 6,038 in 2024. The fall in sales follows Musk's endorsement of Germany's far-right AFD party in last month's national election.

That trend has followed throughout Europe in March, per early data released by some countries. For example, French trade association PFA reported 3,159 Tesla deliveries last month, down 37% for March 2024 and down 41% for the quarter. The story is similar in Sweden, where Tesla sales fell 64% in March.

Overall in Europe, new EV sales grew by 28.4%, capturing 15.2% of the total EU market share, even as overall new car registrations fell. Meanwhile in China, a key market for Tesla, sales of its Shanghai-made cars fell in March amid competition from BYD, which surpassed Tesla on revenue in 2024 and other local players like Geely.

Tesla sold 78,828 EVs in China in March, down 11.5% year-over-year, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association. That's up from the 30,688 cars bought in February.

Tesla has had a rough start to the year. Its stock hit its lowest performance since 2022 amid mounting pressures, increased backlash against Musk, and an aging lineup. Despite the Cybertruck's popularity, it hasn't boosted Tesla's sales numbers enough to turn things around.

Tesla likely hopes its refreshed Model Y and other potential upgrades coming this year will boost its sales numbers. Earlier this week, Tesla began offering 0% financing on the refreshed Model Y range in China. The company has also teased mysterious new lower-cost models that it has yet to reveal.

Rivian delivered just 8,640 vehicles in the first three months of 2024, the company's worst quarterly mark since the end of 2022. But the company says the slow start won't impact its overall guidance for the year. It still expects to deliver between 46,000 and 51,000 EVs by the end of 2025.

The company warned that the first quarter would be challenging. On a conference call with analysts in February, Rivian's chief financial officer said that a challenging demand environment, partially driven by the impact of the fires in Los Angeles, plus the seasonal drag on sales to start the year, would result in fewer deliveries. The company was still able to build 14,611 vehicles in the quarter.

The soft first quarter comes in what is likely to be another challenging year for the company as it aims to release a more affordable mass-market EV in 2026. Rivian has reworked its flagship R1S SUV and R1T pickup truck so that it

loses less on each sale. It also laid off 10% of employees last year. The results of those cost-cutting efforts started to show in the financial results for 2024. In the final quarter of last year, the company recorded a $170 million of positive gross profit, although $60 million of that came from software and services.

But much remains up in the air for Rivian. It is planning to make and sell roughly the same number of EVs this year as it did in 2024, meaning growth won't come until 2026. Meanwhile, the company warned in February that changes to government policies and regulations...

could hurt its efforts to hit those more modest marks. Those changes are coming. After a few months of waffling, President Trump now says he's committed to placing a 25% tax on cars that are imported to the United States and also on certain parts that are brought into this country. Rivian builds its EVs in Illinois, so it doesn't have to worry about the former, but the latter could still sting.

Trump has threatened to end or reduce the $7,500 federal EV tax credit, which helps blunt the high cost of Rivian's vehicles. Rivian is also currently trying to build a new factory in Georgia and is leaning on a $6.6 billion loan from the Department of Energy. That loan was finalized a few days before Trump took office, but Trump and Elon Musk's efforts to stop government payments

in many cases illegally, according to the courts, could threaten that lifeline.