Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s big government adventure appears to be at an end. As promised in April, Musk has returned his attention to his car company, which is facing serious headwinds. In the first quarter of the year, Tesla sold tens of thousands fewer electric vehicles than it did the year before, despite a rise in worldwide EV sales. Data from April looked even worse, with substantial sales declines in Europe and China. May’s numbers don’t look much better.
Although Tesla only publishes its global production and sales numbers—and only at the end of each quarter—some countries provide monthly new car registration information, making it possible to track sales on a national level. And according to Germany’s KBA, in May, Tesla sales fell by just over 36 percent year over year, even as overall EV registrations increased by 45 percent. At least that’s a few hundred more cars than it managed in April.
Similar trends were seen in the UK and Italy. In the UK, Tesla sales decreased by 45 percent, even as overall EV sales increased by 28 percent. In Italy, EV sales increased by almost 41 percent, but Tesla’s deliveries dropped by 20 percent.
The slide isn’t quite as bad in China, where Tesla faces stiff competition from local brands that undercut it with low prices while providing a wealth of features that are either unavailable in Teslas or cost extra. According to Reuters, Tesla’s Shanghai factory delivered 15 percent fewer vehicles in May than it did last year, a number that includes both exports to Europe and local sales.
