In brief: Tesla looks set to record an unwanted first: two straight quarters of declining deliveries. Estimates put the EV giant's deliveries down 6% for the April to June quarter as demand for electric vehicles keeps falling.
According to an average estimate based on forecasts from 12 analysts polled by LSEG – as reported by Reuters – Tesla is expected to deliver 438,019 vehicles for the previous quarter, down 6% compared to the same quarter a year earlier. It's noted that seven of the analysts have slashed their expectations over the last three months.
In April, Tesla reported first-quarter vehicle deliveries of 386,810, significantly fewer than the roughly 457,000 Wall Street analysts were anticipating, and marking an 8.5% YoY decline – the first since 2020.
Tesla blamed the disappointing figures on the early phase of the production ramp-up for the updated Model 3 at its Fremont factory, as well as factory shutdowns due to the Red Sea conflict and an arson attack on its Gigafactory in Berlin.
Another decline would mark the first consecutive quarterly drop in deliveries for Tesla.
It's been a difficult few months for Tesla. The declining sales and production cuts saw CEO Elon Musk confirm that more than 10% of its global workforce, at least 14,000 workers, would be laid off. It also recalled all its Cybertrucks due to a problem that caused the accelerator pedal to become stuck; faced a US investigation into Autopilot-linked crashes; and laid off its entire Supercharger and new vehicles teams.
Tesla's biggest problem has been waning demand for EVs. A Pew survey showed that the number of Americans seriously considering purchasing one has dropped by 9% since mid-2020. The high price of EVs is partly to blame, as are fears over their reliability and the lack of supporting infrastructure. One major concern is the insufficient number of EV charging stations.
More people are moving to hybrid vehicles, leaving EV makers like Tesla in a quandary. The company was supposed to be developing a new, cheaper EV that could compete with Chinese rivals, but Musk shelved the plans to focus on robotaxis.
Despite the predicted fall in shipments, Tesla's shares were up 6.1% on the back of strong sales posted by Chinese EV makers.