Tesla sales plunge again as anti-Musk boycott shows staying power and
rivals pounce on the weakness
[July 03, 2025] By
BERNARD CONDON
NEW YORK (AP) — 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.
The 13% plunge in global sales over a year earlier suggests the damage
to Tesla's brand from Musk's embrace of U.S. President Donald Trump and
far-right European politicians is much deeper, widespread and lasting
than some investors had expected. The figures reported by Tesla on
Wednesday also signal that its quarterly earnings report due later this
month could disappoint as rival electric-vehicle makers pounce on its
weakness and steal market share. v
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 czar, and hopes rose that sales would recover. The Tesla
CEO himself recently said the company was in the midst of a “major
rebound” in sales, a statement contradicted by the latest figures.
Still, some parts of the report were encouraging. Sales of the Models 3
and Y totaled 373,728, above the estimate of 356,000 from Wall Street
analysts. Tesla shares rose 5% on the news.
“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 lineup is at market saturation and
Tesla will need the new affordable vehicle to grow deliveries.”
Musk has promised a cheaper EV model would be coming this year that
would boost sales.
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It's not clear yet if Musk's latest feud with Trump will help lure back
buyers who have been angry at the billionaire's political positions.
After Musk once again took to social media to criticize Trump's budget
bill, the president threatened Tuesday to use the power of his office to
hurt his companies, including Tesla, pushing its stock down more than
5%.
A June AP-NORC poll showed about half of U.S. adults have an unfavorable
opinion of Tesla, including 30% of Republicans.
The new figures come as Tesla is focusing less on new models and more on
robots, self-driving technology and robotaxis ferrying passengers around
without anyone behind the wheel.
Tesla is in the midst of a test run of robotaxis in Austin, Texas, that
seems to have gone smoothly for the most part. But it also has drawn the
scrutiny of federal car safety regulators because of a few mishaps,
including one case in which a Tesla cab was shown on a video heading
down an opposing lane.
The competition from rival EV makers is especially fierce in Europe
where China's BYD has taken a bite out of its market share. Tesla sales
fell 28% in May in 30 European countries even as the overall market for
electric vehicles expanded sharply, according to the European Automobile
Manufacturers’ Association.
Musk has acknowledged that his work as head of the Department of
Government Efficiency and his embrace of European far-right candidates
have hurt the company. But he said earlier this year that much of the
sales plunge is due to customers holding off while they waited for an
ugrade to Tesla's best selling Model Y. That new version has been out
for months now.
Tesla reports second quarter financial results on July 23. In the first
quarter, net income fell 71%.
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