Tesla reported sharply lower first-quarter auto sales on Tuesday amid an underwhelming demand outlook for electric vehicles, while legacy players including Toyota rode improved US inventories to higher sales. At Toyota, US auto sales for the quarter jumped 20.3 percent to 565,098.
A suspected arson attack of power infrastructure impacted production at Tesla's German plant, one of the factors weighing on the company's first quarter sales. Photo: Odd ANDERSEN / AFP/FileTesla reported sharply lower first-quarter auto sales on Tuesday amid an underwhelming demand outlook for electric vehicles, while legacy players includingElon Musk's auto giant reported 386,810 global deliveries over the period, down 8.
Analysts have been expecting about a six percent rise in overall sales in the quarter, reflecting a still strong labor market and an improved supply picture that has eased pricing pressures.In explaining the drop, Tesla pointed to a hit from the production ramp-up of an updated Model 3 at its California factory and factory shutdowns due to shipping diversions caused by the Red Sea conflict, as well as the attack on Gigafactory Berlin.
"While we were anticipating a bad 1Q, this was an unmitigated disaster," said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives. While overall EV sales fell compared with the year-ago period, GM described its ramp-up as"on track," with deliveries of its Equinox EV beginning to ship to dealers in the first half of 2024.Targeted at middle- and working-class consumers, the Equinox is being closely watched as a barometer of mainstream US demand for EVs.
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