Facebook The sobering result had been on the cards for Tesla. In Europe alone, Tesla’s new registrations slumped to 19,046 electric cars after the first two of three months of the first quarter. This is a 49 per cent drop compared to the figure for the same period in 2024, and the first quarter is always the weakest sales period in China – something that all manufacturers struggle with. In total, Tesla produced 362,615 vehicles in Q1 and handed over 336,681 of them to customers. Both figures are significantly below those of Q1/2024 – even though a conflict on the Red Sea and the arson attack on the Gigafactory Berlin had already had a negative impact on production at the time. Expressed as a percentage, Tesla’s production fell by 16.3 per cent in the first quarter and by as much as 21 per cent compared to the fourth quarter. The picture is similar for deliveries (-13% YoY, -27% compared to Q4/2024). The last time Tesla reported such low vehicle figures was in 2022. BYD is clearly ahead after the first quarter The reasons for the decline are the subject of much debate. It is undisputed that Tesla has a relatively outdated product range and that the most important facelift – that of the best-selling Model Y – will only be reflected in future statistics. At the same time, CEO Elon Musk’s controversial political activities are also likely to have played a certain part in the reluctance to buy. The fact is that Tesla was no longer the largest manufacturer of electric cars internationally between January and March in view of the decline: China’s BYD Group sold 416,388 BEVs in the first quarter, and if the plug-in hybrids also included in BYD’s range are included, sales totalled 986,098 units. The two electric car manufacturers were already in a tight race in 2024. With 1.79 million units delivered, Tesla barely managed to keep BYD behind it: The Chinese manufacturer delivered 1,764,992 battery-electric cars in 2024. In the fourth quarter, however, BYD was already ahead of Tesla with 595,413 BEVs. If plug-in hybrids are also included here, BYD is far ahead with 4.25 million cars in 2024. BYD is now starting 2025 with a considerable lead. While Tesla has hardly commented on the latest developments in the decidedly brief announcements on production and delivery figures recently, this time it is different – to explain the declining figures: “While the changeover of Model Y lines across all four of our factories led to the loss of several weeks of production in Q1, the ramp of the New Model Y continues to go well,” Tesla writes. And: “Thank you to all our customers, employees, suppliers, shareholders and supporters who helped us achieve these results.” The usual picture emerges for the model series: the Model 3 and the Model Y – here is our driving report on the Juniper model – continue to drive the volume. The two mid-range models totalled 345,454 units built and 323,800 units delivered in the opening quarter. Looking at the national registration figures, the majority of these are likely to be the Model Y – Tesla itself does not provide a more detailed breakdown between the two series. The other model series are no longer defined separately: The Model S, Model X and the Cybertruck are simply summarised under ‘other models’ – with only 17,161 vehicles produced and 12,881 delivered. A far cry from the 2024 success stories In 2024 as a whole, Tesla had produced 1,773,443 electric cars and delivered 1,789,226 of them to customers – both of which were already slightly below 2023 (-3.9 and – 1.1 % YoY respectively). Of these, 459,445 vehicles were built and 495,570 were delivered in the fourth quarter, the latter being a record high. In Q1 2024, 433,371 electric cars were produced and 386,810 delivered. Tesla will present its financial figures for the first quarter of 2025 on 22 April, followed as usual by a live webcast with questions and answers from top management.