Tesla sales fall 13% as a musk reaction, competition and aging range turn off buyers

NEW YORK (AP) – Tesla sales fell 13% in the first three months of the year, another sign than the automotive company formerly high -flying from Elon Musk is struggling to attract buyers.

The main manufacturer of electric vehicles has faced growth backlash The embrace of right -wing policy by Musk and its role in the Trump administration. Opponents organized demonstrations in Tesla exhibition halls in the United States and Europe, where sales drops were higher.

The Tesla range ages, and some consumers may have prevented the purchase of its successful model while waiting for a updated version. Austin, Texas, also faces fierce competition from other manufacturers of electric vehicles offering largely improved models, including those of China byd.

Tesla declared deliveries of 336,681 worldwide during the quarter from January to March. The figure was down 387,000 sales during the same period a year ago. The decline occurred despite significant discounts, zero financing and other incentives and could be a warning that the report on the results of the company’s first quarter later this month could disappoint investors.

Dan Ives de Wedbush said that Wall Street financial analysts knew that the first quarter was probably bad, but turned out to be even worse than expected. He described the results of sales of “disaster on each metric”.

“THE Brand crisis problems Clearly have a negative impact on Tesla … There is no debate, “he said.

Musk was the point of view of President Donald Trump in his efforts to reduce public spending. While Musk’s criticism has mounted and Tesla sales and the share price collapsed, Trump held an extraordinary month Press conference outside the White House In which he praised Tesla, exploded boycotts against society and bought a Tesla himself While the television cameras were driving.

Tesla investors complained about Musk’s work at the government’s Ministry of Efficiency have diverted its objective of the management of Tesla. On Tuesday, the New York controller supervised pension funds holding Tesla shares called for a trial accusing a distracted musk of “chasing Tesla of a financial cliff”.

After falling up to 6% early Wednesday, Tesla’s stock increased by more than 5% on the indications that Musk could soon put your attention to Tesla. Politico, citing anonymous sources, told that Trump had told members of the cabinet that Musk would back up from his role at Doge in the coming weeks.

Tesla’s stock has plunged about half since he reached a record in mid-December like the expectations of a lighter regulatory touch and large profits with Donald Trump as a president was replaced by the fear that the boycott of musk cars and other problems can hit the company hard. Analysts still do not know exactly how much the drop in sales is due to demonstrations or other factors.

However, even bullish financial analysts who previously minimized the backlash to the polarizing political positions of Musk say that it harms the company, which Musk also recently recognized.

“It’s a very expensive job,” Musk said during a Wisconsin rally Sunday, referring to its role as Doge. “My stock of Tesla and the stock of all those who hold Tesla have gone almost in two.”

Tesla cars have been broken and burnt down in recent weeks, and demonstrations have been organized with hundreds of Tesla dealers. The owners put stickers for bumpers on their cars saying: “I bought this before Elon went crazy.”

Europeans also fell back to the purchase of Tesla, in particular the Germans upset after Musk publicly supported a far -right party in the national elections and gave what many say it is a Nazi type salute During an inauguration of Trump in January.

Tesla is expected to publish a profit of 48 cents per share for the first quarter later this month, up 7% compared to the previous year, according to a survey of financial analysts of the FactSet research company.

Almost all Tesla sales during the quarter came from smaller and cheaper 3 and Y models, the company selling less than 13,000 more expensive models, especially X and S as well as the Cybertruck.

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The commercial writer of AP Michelle Chapman contributed to this New York report.