TRUMP, MUSK AND TUMBLING SALES WHAT'S GOING ON WITH TESLA?

ELON Musk acknowledged in Tesla's most recent earnings call that its revenues are down for the first time in over a decade - with experts blaming the EV giant's drop in sales on the CEO's own “toxicity”.

- Thomas Jervis

Automotive earnings fell by nearly 20 per cent last year, with profits down nine per cent, making the situation worse than analysts were expecting. It mirrors an overall drop in sales, with the number of new Teslas registered globally in 2024 falling to 1.79 million from 1.81 million the year prior.

Yet it's a different story here in the UK. In the first three months of 2025, Tesla registered 12,500 new cars - an increase over the 11,786 for the same period in 2024. We expect this to dip over the next couple of months, though, as the old Model Y goes out of production and facelifted examples begin trickling in at the beginning of May, before arriving en masse in June.

We asked Tesla UK to confirm the timing and while the brand refused to make an official comment, it indicated that our assessment was accurate.

In its recent earnings call, however, Tesla blamed the dip in global profits on slow deliveries, and stated that it would continue to streamline the production process – particularly for more bespoke models, such as those chosen with factory-order colours or optional wheel designs.

Despite this, Musk appealed to Tesla's investors, claiming that the firm isn't “on the ragged edge of death, not even close. But there are some challenges, and I expect that this year... there will probably be some unexpected bumps. But I remain extremely optimistic about the future of the company.”