Car market
The factory in Grünheide was silent for a while. — © getty
The electric car manufacturer Tesla sold far fewer cars in the first quarter of this year than analysts expected. The stock lost another 7 percent after the news.
Tesla always announces its sales and production figures very quickly. The figures from the previous quarter are already available on the first working day of a new quarter. In the past, this was often a moment when the stock price shot up, but now the opposite is the case: Tesla shares drop 7 percent after strongly disappointing sales figures. The share has already lost a quarter of its market value this year.
Car deliveries in particular were particularly disappointing. Analysts had expected Tesla to deliver about 450,000 Model 3 and Model Y customers to customers, but in reality only 370,000. Production itself also fell below expectations: Tesla made 412,000 of those cars, while 440,000 were expected. Of the other models (Cybertruck, Model S and Model X), Tesla only made 21,000 cars.
In a short press release, Tesla attributed the poor figures mainly to external factors, such as the attacks on ships in the Red Sea, which forced boats carrying parts and cars to detour around the Cape of Good Hope. A fire was also set in a high-voltage tower supplying the large assembly plant in Grünheide near Berlin. The fire shut down the factory for several days. The company also says that the introduction of a new version of the Model 3 at its factory in Fremont, California led to delays.
Tesla does not say a word about increasing competition. Chinese brands in particular are launching plenty of cheap electric cars, just when demand for electric cars is growing less strongly than expected. There is therefore a threat of oversupply.
