{"id":3006,"date":"2025-04-02T21:01:18","date_gmt":"2025-04-02T21:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/04\/02\/elon-musk-faces-a-fork-in-the-road-moment-as-tesla-delivery-plummets\/"},"modified":"2025-04-02T21:01:18","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T21:01:18","slug":"elon-musk-faces-a-fork-in-the-road-moment-as-tesla-delivery-plummets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/04\/02\/elon-musk-faces-a-fork-in-the-road-moment-as-tesla-delivery-plummets\/","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk Faces a \u2018Fork-in-the-Road\u2019 Moment as Tesla Delivery Plummets"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Birds
Tesla has been the subject of mounting political protests. Justin Sullivan\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The impact of Elon Musk<\/a>\u2019s political power on Tesla (TSLA)<\/a> is finally showing up in numbers.\u00a0In the first three months of 2025, Tesla delivered 336,681 electric vehicles, the company disclosed today (April 2). The figure is the lowest since 2022 and about 9 percent below what analysts had expected.<\/p>\n

\n<\/section>\n

Tesla attributed the decline in part to a redesign of the Model Y, which led to a partial factory shutdown and the loss of several weeks of production capacity in the first quarter (Tesla made 16 percent fewer vehicles in the first quarter). But it\u2019s hard to ignore the effect of Musk\u2019s politics. The CEO, who hasn\u2019t been seen at any Tesla factory<\/a> in recent months, has become the face of federal cost-cutting measures as head of the Trump administration\u2019s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). He has also vocalized support for international far-right political movements<\/a> like Germany\u2019s AfD party, drawing ire from liberal-leaning Tesla customers. In the first quarter, sales of used Tesla cars spiked 33 percent,<\/a> according to Cox Automotive. Protests at Tesla dealerships and vandalism against Tesla vehicles also amounted to a point that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi describes as \u201cdomestic terrorism.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

A \u201cfork in the road\u201d moment<\/h3>\n

Long-time investors are urging Musk to refocus his attention on the automaker and away from politics. Some have called for the CEO to either resign from DOGE<\/a> or find another person to run Tesla. Even Tesla bulls like Dan Ives<\/a>, an analyst with Wedbush Securities<\/a>, have conceded that Musk\u2019s political efforts are undeniably harming his EV company.<\/p>\n

\u201cMusk needs to get his act together or else unfortunately darker times are ahead for Tesla,\u201d said Ives in an investor note today. \u201cThe future is so bright, but this is a full-blown crisis Tesla is navigating now, and it\u2019s primarily self-inflicted,\u201d added the analyst, who called the company\u2019s disappointing delivery numbers a \u201cfork in the road moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tesla\u2019s first-quarter delivery consists of 323,800 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles and 1,161 other models. While the company didn\u2019t disclose delivery figures for Cybertruck, the hyped electric truck has reportedly been faring worse than initially expected<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tesla is suffering across all of its major markets, particularly Europe. In the U.S., vehicle sales were down by 2 percent <\/a>in January and February from a year ago, according to data from Wards Intelligence reported by the Wall Street Journal. In China, sales fell by 29 percent in January and February year-over-year and 11.5 percent in March, according to the China Passenger Car Association.<\/p>\n

In Europe, Tesla sales plummeted nearly half (49 percent) in January and February. Germany, which houses one of Tesla\u2019s gigafactories, saw a sharp decline in sales. New Tesla registations fell more than 76 percent in February compared to last year, according to the country\u2019s Motor Transport Authority. Norway, which leads the world in EV adoption, saw a 12 percent decline in Tesla sales during the first quarter.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Elon<\/p><\/div>\n