Tesla’s year-over-year sales dropped for the first time since 2020

Tesla delivered 386,810 vehicles this quarter, falling short of its fourth quarter 2023 deliveries by nearly 100,000 and marking a year-over-year sales drop from Q1 2023’s 422,875 vehicles. As Bloomberg notes, the company hasn’t delivered fewer vehicles than the same prior-year period since 2020 and hasn’t delivered under 400,000 vehicles in a quarter since Q3 2022.

Tesla blamed the decline partially on “the early phase of the production ramp of the updated Model 3 at our Fremont factory,” as well as shipping delays resulting from Houthi rebel attacks in the Red Sea and the arson at its Berlin factory. The company had earlier predicted slowed 2024 growth as it prepared to begin new vehicle production in 2025.

Tesla’s explanation may not fully account for the dip, though. “…This was an unmitigated disaster 1Q that is hard to explain away,” posted Dan Ives, a tech analyst at Wedbush Securities, leading to a “seminal moment in the Tesla story for Musk to either turn this around and reverse the black eye 1Q.”

Tesla is also looking at stiffer competition as more automakers put work into EV transition. The company has lowered its prices to stave off that competition, but other companies seem willing to play ball. Ford slashed the Mustang Mach-E’s prices by as much as $8,000 in February, for instance, and General Motors recently announced that the Chevy Equinox EV will debut just shy of $35,000 — or $27,495 after the $7,500 EV tax credit is applied.