Jul 2, 2025 - Business

Tesla EV sales plunge again after Elon Musk backlash

Tesla's electric vehicle sales plunged in the second quarter as the company continues to face a backlash from CEO Elon Musk's political turn.

Why it matters: EVs are an essential source of cash flow for Tesla as it pursues ambitious projects like self-driving cars and humanoid robots.

Driving the news: Tesla's EV deliveries — a close proxy for sales — fell 13.5% to 384,122 in Q2, compared with a year earlier.

Sellside analysts had projected a range of 380,000 to 390,000, though "online trackers" expected 345,000 to 360,000, according to Evercore ISI.
Tesla shares rose 4.8% in pre-market trading to $315.06.

Zoom in: Deliveries of the Model Y crossover and Model 3 sedan fell 11.5%.

Deliveries of other vehicles — the category that includes the Cybertruck — plunged 51.8%.

Zoom out: It's the second straight quarter Tesla has reported a year-over-year decline.

The big picture: Tesla has faced blowback over Musk's public backing of Trump and his leadership of the Department of Government Efficiency.

That's included vandalism involving the company's cars and showrooms.
But in recent weeks, Musk and Trump have had a public falling out after the world's richest person began bashing the president's budgeting priorities.