Tesla sales fell sharply in Q2 as Musk backlash and competition chipped away at company's dominance
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, a significant development given expectations that anger with the company's billionaire CEO would have faded by now.
The company reported a 13% plunge in sales on Wednesday in another sign that Musk's embrace of U.S. President Donald Trump and far-right politicians in Europe has had a deep and enduring hit to Tesla's brand appeal. The new figures also suggest that Tesla could disappoint when it announces second quarter earnings later this month. In the first three months of this year, net income fell 71%.
Sales fell to 384,122 in April through June, down from 443,956 in the same period last year. During this period, Musk formally left the Trump administration as a cost-cutting czar and hopes rose that sales would recover.
Sales of the Models 3 and Y totaled 373,728, above the estimate of 356,000 from Wall Street analysts. Tesla shares rose about 1.5% in early trading.
Tesla is also facing stiff competition from other electric makers, especially in Europe where China's BYD has taken a bite out of its market share.
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 attributed much of the sales plunge to customers holding off while they waited for new versions of Tesla's best selling Model Y, and recently predicted a major turnaround in sales.
The new figures come as the company is focusing less on coming out with 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 widely shared video heading down an opposing lane.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Ya Libnan
2 hours ago
- Ya Libnan
Putin told Trump he won't back down from goals in Ukraine
By Dmitry Antonov Summary MOSCOW- Russian President Vladimir Putin told U.S. President Donald Trump in a phone call on Thursday that Moscow wants a negotiated end to the Ukraine war but will not step back from its original goals, a Kremlin aide said. In a wide-ranging conversation that also covered Iran and the Middle East, Trump 'again raised the issue of an early end to military action' in Ukraine, the aide, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters. 'Vladimir Putin, for his part, noted that we continue to seek a political and negotiated solution to the conflict,' Ushakov said. Putin briefed Trump on the implementation of agreements reached between Russia and Ukraine last month to exchange prisoners-of-war and dead soldiers, Ushakov said, and told him that Moscow was ready to continue negotiations with Kyiv. 'Our president also said that Russia will achieve the goals it has set: that is, the elimination of the well-known root causes that led to the current state of affairs, to the current acute confrontation, and Russia will not back down from these goals,' he added. There was nothing in the Kremlin readout to suggest that Putin had made any shift in Moscow's position during the conversation with Trump, who took office with a promise to end the war swiftly but has voiced frequent frustration with the lack of progress between the two sides. The phrase 'root causes' is shorthand for the Kremlin's argument that it was compelled to go to war in Ukraine to prevent the country from joining NATO and being used by the Western alliance as a launch pad to attack Russia. Ukraine and its European allies say that is a specious pretext for what they call an imperial-style war, but Trump in previous public comments has shown sympathy with Moscow's refusal to accept NATO membership for Ukraine. Putin and Trump did not talk about the U.S. decision to halt some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine, Ushakov said. On Iran, he said, 'the Russian side emphasized the importance of resolving all disputes, disagreements and conflict situations exclusively by political and diplomatic means'. Trump last month sent U.S. military bombers to strike three Iranian nuclear sites, in a move condemned by Moscow as unprovoked and illegal. (Reuters)
Nahar Net
3 hours ago
- Nahar Net
Qassem says Hezbollah will not give up on right to resist
by Naharnet Newsdesk 8 hours Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem has said that Hezbollah's disarmament is a domestic issue and that Israel "has no business interfering in domestic affairs." "We will not accept to hand over our land and our arms to the Israeli enemy," Qassem said Wednesday, adding that Hezbollah has the right to resist Israel and will not give up on this right or be affected by pressures.
Al Manar
4 hours ago
- Al Manar
Iran Rejects EU Call for Nuclear Program Termination Talks
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has firmly rejected a recent push by the European Union to initiate negotiations aimed at halting the country's nuclear program. The dismissal came on Wednesday in response to remarks made the previous day by EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, who urged Iran to engage in immediate talks to curb its nuclear activities. In a statement posted on X on Wednesday, Araghchi asserted that Kallas's call disregarded the principles of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). He highlighted that the NPT explicitly affirms the right of all signatory states, including Iran, to develop, research, and utilize nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. Araghchi argued that the EU's demand undermines Iran's sovereign rights under international law and fails to acknowledge the complexities of existing nuclear further criticized the EU's stance by referencing UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal. Iran dismisses the EU's call for negotiations to end the country's nuclear program, saying it makes the bloc's role in any future talks meaningless. Follow: — Press TV 🔻 (@PressTV) July 3, 2025 Araghchi rejected the involvement of the EU and the UK in any future negotiations, stating that their participation would be irrelevant and meaningless. He contended that the resolution and the JCPOA framework have been undermined by the withdrawal of key parties, particularly the United States in 2018, rendering mechanisms like the 'snapback' sanctions process obsolete and legally baseless. Iran has intensified asserting its nuclear rights since the US unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA under the Trump administration, reimposing stringent sanctions. The Islamic Republic has since scaled back its compliance with the deal, advancing its uranium enrichment activities while maintaining that its program is for peaceful purposes, such as energy production and medical research. The EU, along with France, Germany, and the UK (collectively known as the E3), has been attempting to salvage the JCPOA through diplomatic channels. But Tehran has long complained about European inaction and duplicity since the US unilaterally withdrew from it in 2018. Araghchi, reiterating Tehran's long-standing position, on Tuesday warned the European Union against the 'destructive approach' toward Iran's nuclear activities and support for Israeli aggression by several European countries. He stated that such actions would further complicate matters and hinder diplomatic efforts. In a phone conversation with Kallas, Araghchi denounced what he described as the leniency shown by some parties toward the lawlessness and crimes of the Zionist regime. He emphasized the responsibility of all governments to condemn the military aggression by Israel and the United States against Iran.
