Tesla may be looking at a gloomy future as EV demand wanes off globally
- Tesla may be facing challenging times ahead as the EV manufacturer has been facing multiple setbacks impacting its car sales.
Tesla Inc. may be headed for a gloomy milestone as waning demand for electric vehicles and elevated interest rates have been taking a toll on the automaker's sales, reported Bloomberg. The report stated that the electric car manufacturer led by Elon Musk, delivered 449,080 EVs in the last quarter that ended in March 2024, registering a seven per cent slump from the OEM's sales registered in the previous quarter, which ended in December 2023.
A Reuters report too hinted that Tesla may be looking at a gloomy picture. The report stated that the ranks of would-be Tesla car buyers in the US are shrinking. It attributed this drop in part to Tesla CEO Elon Musk's polarizing persona. It stated that while Tesla continued to post strong sales growth in 2023, owing to aggressive price cuts and discounts, the electric vehicle manufacturer's consideration score dropped to 31 per cent in February this year, less than half compared to the brand's score of 70 per cent recorded in November 2021. The report attributed this data to Caliber, which has been tracking consumer interest in the brand over the last few years.
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The Bloomberg report stated that the Tesla CEO has not helped matters for the company in the final weeks of March 2024. He reportedly imposed a new directive that would have slowed down the sales process. Now, every Tesla customer in North America needs to take short drives to test out the driver assistance feature the OEM misleadingly markets as Full Self Driving, claimed the report.
These reports come at a time when Tesla's CEO has claimed that the company is between two major growth waves. The first wave was fuelled by the Model 3 sedan and Model Y SUV and the next is expected from the launch of a cheaper next-generation EV, which is slated to enter production late in 2025.
Several setbacks also impacted Tesla's first quarter of this year's sales. One of the major setbacks for the OEM was multiple shutdowns of its manufacturing facility in Germany outside Berlin. The OEM also upgraded its factory in California to make an updated version of the Model 3 sedan, which possibly slowed down the production output. Besides that rapidly rising competition from rivals is also impacting Tesla's sales.
In China, one of the biggest markets for Tesla, the auto company is struggling to keep pace with BYD Co., which became the world’s top-selling EV manufacturer at the end of last year.
