Support CleanTechnica’s work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe.
As expected, EV sales in the US are down this quarter. Sales surged in the 3rd quarter before the $7,500 US EV tax credit expired, and they have subsequently dropped — or collapsed off a cliff — in the 4th quarter.
Reuters has apparently received exclusive data from Cox Automotive this week indicating that it’s looking quite bad for Tesla. The company’s November sales in the US were reportedly down 23%, reaching their lowest monthly total since January 2022. Sales were 39,800 in total, down from 51,513 in November 2024.
And that’s not all of the bad news. As we all know, Tesla launched decontented, cheaper versions of the Model 3 and Model Y in order to try to boost sales. Those vehicles dropped the low-end price of those models by $5,000–5,500, but that doesn’t even make up for $7,500 tax credit going away on October 1. So, unsurprisingly, these lower-quality versions of the Model 3 and Model Y have not kept sales afloat, not even close.
However, there’s another problem here. Some of these cheaper cars have been sold, of course, and they are reportedly coming at the expense of the higher-cost, premium Tesla Model 3 and Model Y. That cannibalization means that Tesla’s taking a gross margin hit.
A reader, Mark Spohr, made the following comment the other day: “Tesla gross profit peaked at $20 billion in 2022. This year they’ll be lucky to make $7 billion.” Hmm … we’ll see. Frankly, with a severe drop in sales and the loss of regulatory credit revenue (thanks, Trump), I actually wonder if Tesla couldn’t log a net loss in the 4th quarter. We shall see.
Sign up for CleanTechnica’s Weekly Substack for Zach and Scott’s in-depth analyses and high level summaries, sign up for our daily newsletter, and follow us on Google News!
Advertisement
Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Sign up for our daily newsletter for 15 new cleantech stories a day. Or sign up for our weekly one on top stories of the week if daily is too frequent.
[embedded content]
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.
CleanTechnica’s Comment Policy
Share this story!