Yr Wonkette is not in the habit of saying “poor Elon Musk” except with deep sarcasm but we do figure he’s feeling pretty sorry for himself this week, what with the news that, unlike the rest of the EV industry, sales of Tesla cars aren’t just seeing slower growth, but for the first time in a long time, they’ve actually dropped by 20 percent between the last quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024.
Tesla attributed the decline in sales in part to disruptions in shipping in the Red Sea, what with the Houthis in Yemen attacking ships with missiles, as well as an arson attack at its factory in Germany.
Tesla said Tuesday that it delivered 386,810 vehicles in the first quarter of 2024, down 20% from the 484,507 it delivered in the final quarter of 2023. Crucially, Tesla shipped fewer cars than it did in the first quarter of 2023, meaning this was the first year-over-year drop in sales in three years.
Production was also down year-over-year, which Tesla attributed to switching to making the new Model 3, as well as the other disruptions. […]
The arson attack shut down the Germany factory for nearly a week, and Tesla suspended production there for two weeks in January due to the problems in the Red Sea.
Tesla is also having a rough time in China, where EV maker BYD and a bunch of other manufacturers are beating it with less expensive EVs that may be on the verge of dominating the world EV market in coming years. Anticipating the eventual entry of Chinese EVs in the US market, high tariffs or no, Ford is already rethinking its EV strategy and planning to build smaller, less expensive EVs.
Forbes points out that the news tanked Tesla’s stock price, “after the electric vehicle maker was already the S&P 500’s worst performer of the first three months of 2024.”
The New York Times emphasized (gift link) that the drop in Tesla sales came even as other manufacturers’ EV sales continue to grow, and suggests that could simply be because now that there are wider non-Tesla EV options, people are choosing them.
In contrast to the early adopters who fueled Tesla’s rise, mainstream buyers may be put off by the vehicles’ unconventional design, including minimalist interiors and lack of buttons and switches. Almost all functions in Tesla vehicles are controlled from a large screen on the dashboard.
Long story short, the EV business is doing that “maturing” thing, and that, combined with Musk’s efforts to alienate everyone but far-right trolls away from Twitter as well as his car company, just might not be great for Tesla in the long term.
The Times story notes that Kia and Hyundai, which are both part of the same South Korean conglomerate, are doing super, thanks for asking. Kia’s EV sales in the US have doubled in the first quarter compared to last year, and Hyundai said it has sold “more than 10,000 electric vehicles in the first quarter in the United States, up 75 percent.”
And Rivian, whose high-end electric pickups and SUVs compete directly with Tesla’s Cybertruck (I regularly see Rivians in Boise, but haven’t spotted a Cybermess yet), also saw 70 percent growth in Q1, up to 13,000.
Ah, but the bad news for Tesla has also sparked another round of “Nobody wants EVs” stories from Fox News, which pretends slower growth in the market is the same as an actual decline, because EVs are woke and climate change is a hoax.
To that end, Fox’s “serious news” reporter John Roberts on Tuesday night had a tough, dishonest question for Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Given Tesla’s slump in sales in one quarter (a quarter when EV sales were up for other companies), Roberts wanted to know where Joe Biden gets off forcing Americans to buy EVs, which of course Biden isn’t doing. Buttigieg, who’s really good at swatting down dishonest Fox News questions, wasn’t having it, because it wasn’t true. Enjoy le video!
ROBERTS: Tesla sales fell 8.5 percent the first quarter of this year. […] EV sales are nowhere near what this president wanted or expected, yet the administration continues to shove them down consumers’ throats. Why?
BUTTIGIEG: Well, let’s be clear. Consumers have wanted and purchased more EVs every single year than the year before. And you know, Tesla is facing more competition as GM and Ford and Stellantis and other competitive players start to make sure they get a piece of the EV market.
Let’s be clear that the automotive sector is moving toward EVs, and we can’t pretend otherwise. Sometimes when these debates happen, I feel like it’s the early 2000s and I’m talking to some people who think that we can just have landline phones forever. The reality is that the automotive sector is moving toward EVs, and the US can either fall behind China or we can claim the lead.
Buttigieg went on to point out that Joe Biden wants EVs to be built in the US, by US workers, and that even if you don’t care about the environment (shame on you!), investments in building the US EV market are simply smart business unless you want all the jobs to be in China, do you, John, do you? Why do you love China so much, John? (We are very loosely paraphrasing here.)
And then idiots on Twitter said the government never forced anyone to buy a cell phone, which kind of ignores the fact that most of the stuff that makes smartphones smart, like GPS and TOUCH SCREENS and oh, the GODDAMNED INTERNET ITSELF were all developed by the Defense Department, so shut up, nobody’s making ramming an EV down your throat, the END.
PREVIOUSLY!
[TechCrunch / Tesla / NYT (gift link) / New Civil Rights Movement]
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