Tesla deliveries fell by 13 percent worldwide

The deliveries of Tesla fell by around 13 percent in the past quarter after a model change and controversy around company boss Elon Musk. The electric car manufacturer led by Tech billionaire Musk brought 336,681 vehicles to customers between January and the end of March. The numbers were significantly worse than expected from analysts. The Tesla share fell by more than four percent in a first reaction in pre-exchangeable US trade.

The weak numbers had already emerged. In the first two months, the Tesla new approvals in the European Union fell to a good 19,000 cars in the first two months. In Germany, the new registrations in February fell to only 1429 of 6038 vehicles a year earlier. In March there was a minus of more than eleven percent in China in March. Tesla himself does not provide any information about results in individual regions.

It is difficult to determine how strongly individual reasons contributed to the decline. A factor should be the switch to a renewed generation of the bestseller Model Y.

Tesla converted the production lines at the beginning of the year. For this, production paused for a few weeks. At the same time, pricing prospective customers were less to buy a vehicle of the previous Y variant. It could still take two quarters for this effect to be digested, Bryn Talkington from Requisite Capital Management estimates.

At the same time, Tesla built a good 16 percent less cars with 362,615 cars of all models in the past quarter than a year earlier.

In addition, the criticism of the political role and the views of Musk has become increasingly louder in recent months. There were boycott calls and only last weekend protests at Tesla locations in different countries.

The tech billionaire became a tight ally of Donald Trump last year, to whom he donated more than $ 250 million for the election campaign for the White House. As President, Trump Trump him with the lowering of government expenditure.

Musk triggered numerous controversy in this role. Critics accuse him of ruthless cuts. For example, he bragged about throwing the development aid authority in the USAID “in the wood chopper” – and constantly speaks of allegedly discovered billions of billions without providing any evidence.

Musk’s political views also scare at least some potential Tesla buyers. In Germany, the Tech billionaire campaigned for the AfD before the Bundestag election and mixed into British politics for a while.

He complains about alleged racism against white and claims that the US Democrats smoke foreigners into the country to turn elections in their favor. At an event for the inauguration of Trump, Musk shocked spectators with a Hitler greeting-like gesture. He criticized this as the “dirty tricks” of his opponents.

Musk was considered the most important driving force for Tesla’s success for years. But will his political actions become a burden on the electric car maker? In demonstrations, Teslas are insulted as “Nazi cars”. Vehicles were lit at Tesla delivery centers and smeared with slogans.

The US government demonstratively strengthens Trump’s familiar muscle. US Justice Minister Pam Bondi threatened to classify vandalism against Tesla as domestic terrorism. Minister of Commerce Howard Lutnick called on buying Tesla shares. Trump himself had several Teslas opened in front of the White House and chose a red model for sale. “I love Tesla!”, The US President announced in an unusual advertising campaign.

Even at Musk and Tesla, well – -being industry analysts Dan Ives rings the alarm bells. Now a “moment of truth” for Musk is, the expert from the investment company Wedbus recently said in the US economic station CNBC. Musk had to balance his cost-lowering role and the job as Tesla boss-and maybe step down a little in the White House, Ives suggested to him.

Meanwhile, Tesla’s cars are getting more and more competition – especially in the important Chinese market. Musk, on the other hand, keeps that autonomous driving and humanoid robot Tesla would make it by far the most valuable company in the world. However, the company has so far owed the proof that it can build reliably driving cars without human intervention.

The controversy and doubts about the business prospects also gnaw on the foundation of Musk’s influence: the Tesla share course. Above all, it is his participation in the electric car maker who makes him by far the richest person in the world – at least on paper. After Trump’s election victory in November, the Tesla course had sometimes doubled. Now the stock is again noted at the level of October.