New York – Tesla’s sales decreased 13% in the first three months of the year, another sign that the electric car company that ever were high flight from Elon Musk are struggling to attract buyers.
The two -digit drop is probably due to a combination of factors, including its aging alignment, rivals competition and a Musk hug reaction to right -wing policy. It is also a warning that the company’s first quarter profit report at the end of this month could disappoint investors.
Tesla reported deliveries of 336,681 worldwide in the quarter from January to March. The figure was low from sales of 387,000 in the same period a year ago. The decrease occurred despite deep discounts, zero financing and other incentives.
Analysts surveyed by FACTSET expected much higher deliveries than 408,000.
Dan Iives of Wedbush said in a note to the clients that Tesla is seeing a soft demand in the United States and China, in addition to facing the pressure in Europe.
“The brand’s crisis problems are clearly having a negative impact on Tesla … there is no debate,” he said.
Iives said that Wall Street and analysts knew that the figures of the first quarter were probably bad, but that it was even worse than expected.
“We are not going to look at these numbers with pink glasses … They were a disaster in each metric,” he said.
Tesla’s actions have collapsed in approximately half since it reached a record of mid -December, since the expectations of a lighter regulatory touch and large profits with Donald Trump as president were replaced by fear that the boycott of Musk cars and other problems could affect the company strongly.
Analysts are not yet sure how much the fall of sales to the protests or other factors. Electric car sales have been slow in general, and Tesla in particular is suffering as cars buyers prevent buying their model and best for the plans for an updated version at the end of this year.
Austin’s electric vehicle manufacturer, Texas, has also lost market share to rivals in recent months as their offers improve, including those of Byd. The Chinese EV giant presented in March a technology that allows cars to load in just a few minutes.
Tesla’s actions fell almost 6% in the first operations on Wednesday.
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AP business writer Michelle Chapman contributed to this New York report.
