Tesla Sales Slide in Bull Market First Quarter for EVs

If you have been following news of the protests at Tesla dealerships over CEO Elon Musk tearing through the federal government with his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), you won’t be surprised to learn sales for the pioneering EV brand have taken a hit.

Tesla sales fell by 8.6% in the first quarter of the year compared with Q1 2024, according to the Kelly Blue Book Electric Vehicle Sales Report, even as overall electric vehicle sales rose a healthy 10.6% to 294,250 cars and trucks. General Motors took second place in last quarter’s EV sales, and new models from Honda and Acura, and to a lesser extent Dodge and Jeep, helped maintain the segment.

Tesla, in Q1 of ’25, had about 3% share of the overall US market and 43.5% of the EV market, KBB says in its report.

Production for the Tesla Cybertruck, poster pickup for young tech bros, was just beginning to ramp up last year, so it showed a gain of 128.5% over Q1 2024 sales, to 6,406. Ford outsold Cybertruck with 7,187 F-150 Lightnings, down 7.2%. Chevrolet sold 2,383 Silverado EVs, up 124.6%, and GMC sold 1,249 Sierra EVs. Rivian sold 1,727 R1Ts, down 47%.

The likelihood that new vehicle prices will go up significantly over the Trump administration’s 25% tariff on all imported autos—on top of the White House’s 25% tariff on Canadian aluminum and steel, and tariffs on parts and components that can cross borders several times before becoming part of vehicles assembled in the US—helped drive overall vehicle sales to a Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate of 17.8 million, highest since March and April 2021, according to Motor Intelligence and Global Data.

In January, Cox Automotive projected full-year 2025 US auto sales will be in the 15.6- to 16.3 million range, a range that could be on the optimistic side as tariffs take their toll.