– Tesla reported a 20% decline in quarterly sales in Q1 of 2024, leading to a 5% drop in their shares.
– The decrease in sales was partly attributed to factory shutdowns due to shipping diversions caused by the Red Sea conflict and an arson attack at the Tesla gigafactory.
– Despite the dip in deliveries, Tesla reclaimed its position as the top global EV seller from China-based BYD, indicating a slow growth in the global EV market.
Tesla reported a 20% decline in quarterly sales, with 386,810 electric cars delivered in the first quarter of 2024. This decline caused the company’s shares to fall approximately 5%. Tesla partially attributed the poor sales to factory shutdowns due to shipping diversions caused by the Red Sea conflict and an arson attack at the Tesla gigafactory outside Berlin. Despite the decline in deliveries, Tesla reclaimed its position as the top EV seller globally from China-based BYD, which reported a 42% quarterly fall in battery electric vehicle sales. However, this poor performance from both companies suggests a slowdown in the global EV market, which is expected to stall this year according to research company Canalys.
Canalys predicts that while EV growth in 2024 will remain solid with a growth rate of 27.1%, it is slower compared to the 29% growth observed in 2023. Market penetration in North America is expected to be 12.5% in 2024, below the global average of 17.1%. In the UK, EVs have been affected by the Conservative government’s rollback on net-zero policies, with the closure of the UK’s ‘plug-in’ grant leading to it being the only major European market without BEV incentives.