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Tesla’s sales plummeted to their lowest level since 2022 in a surprise to analysts amid a backlash against its boss Elon Musk.
The electric car maker delivered almost 337,000 electric vehicles in the first three months of this year, a 13% drop from a year ago.
Shares of Tesla tumbled after the release of the unexpectedly low sales numbers.
The company’s range of cars faces steepened competition from Chinese firm BYD, but experts believe Musk’s controversial role in the Trump administration have had an effect too.
Musk has been heading up President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative to cut federal spending and slash the government workforce.
The Tesla boss is the world’s richest man and contributed more than a quarter of a billion dollars to help Trump get elected in November.
In recent weeks, Musk poured millions into a Wisconsin Supreme Court race, supporting former Republican attorney general Brad Schimel who was soundly defeated on Tuesday.
The backlash against Musk has included “Tesla Takedown” protests at Tesla dealerships across the US and in Europe.
“We are not going to look at these numbers with rose colored glasses… they were a disaster on every metric,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a note on Wednesday.
“The more political [Musk] gets with DOGE the more the brand suffers, there is no debate.”
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