Tesla Q1 deliveries fall 13%, missing analyst expectations

Most of the EV maker’s volume came from the usual suspects—the Model 3 and Model Y. (2 min. read)

Tesla $TSLA ( ▼ 5.32% ) deliveries took a sharp turn downward in the first quarter of 2025—potentially signaling a tougher road ahead for the electric vehicle maker. 

The details: The company reported 336,000 deliveries in the first quarter of 2025, a 13% decline from a year ago and well short of investor expectations.

  • In Q1 2024, Tesla reported 386,810 deliveries and a production of 433,371 vehicles compared to a production of 362,615 in Q1 2025.

  • Tesla investors were expecting deliveries of between 360,000 and 370,000 vehicles, according to the investment insights company, StreetAccount.

  • A Tesla-compiled consensus (sent to select analysts by the company’s investor relations team) pegged the average estimate at 377,590 deliveries. 

Worth noting: Tesla doesn’t provide a breakout of its sales and production numbers by model or region. However, the electric carmaker reported producing 345,454 of its Model 3 and Model Y cars and delivered 323,800 of them in the three months ending March 31. Tesla reported 12,881 deliveries of its other models, including the Cybertruck.

What they’re saying: “We knew 1Q Tesla deliveries would be soft but these numbers were bad. We are not going to look at these numbers with those rose-colored glasses…they were a disaster on every metric. Refresh issues but brand crisis key. The time has come for Musk…fork in the road moment for Tesla,” said Dan Ives, Wedbush Securities, Analyst (via X).

Why it matters: Between declining sales and Elon Musk’s focus on DOGE—investor confidence in Tesla is starting to become more precarious.

Between the lines: News of Tesla’s sales decline comes amid some uptick in the company’s stocks—with some fluctuation likely attributed to conflicting reports that Musk plans to leave DOGE soon (reports the White House and Musk have denied).

  • Year to date, Tesla stock has fallen more than 31%—with shares shedding 36% in Q1, which is the biggest quarterly drop since 2022. 

Bottomline: A miss this big doesn’t happen in isolation. Tesla is facing operational pressure, market skepticism, and a leadership spotlight it can’t avoid.

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