Tesla posts first global sales decline since 2020, but reclaims electric-car lead from BYD

Global quarterly deliveries of Tesla vehicles have declined for the first time since mid-2020 amid a market-wide slowdown in demand for new cars.

However it reclaimed the lead in the global electric-car sales race from BYD – based on deliveries in three-month periods of the year (quarters) – after the Chinese car giant claimed its maiden first-place finish in the fourth quarter of 2023 (October to December).

In the first quarter of 2024 (January to March), Tesla reported 433,371 new vehicles as produced, and 386,810 as delivered – down 1.7 per cent, and 8.5 per cent respectively on the first quarter of 2023.

It is the first year-on-year quarterly sales decline for Tesla since the second quarter of 2020 (April to June), when the new-car market slowed during the initial coronavirus outbreak.

MORE: BYD overtakes Tesla to become top-selling electric-car maker (Q4 2023)

It is also the largest decline in deliveries since the second quarter of 2012, when only about 100 vehicles were delivered – mostly Roadsters, sales of which halved year-on-year, and the first Model S sedans were trickling off the production line.

«Decline in volumes was partially due to the early phase of the production ramp of the updated Model 3 at our Fremont factory and factory shutdowns resulting from shipping diversions caused by the Red Sea conflict and an arson attack at Gigafactory Berlin,» Tesla said in a media statement overnight.

Meanwhile BYD reported 291,730 electric passenger vehicle deliveries in the first quarter of 2024, up 10 per cent on the same period in 2023, but down 45 per cent on its record 526,409 deliveries in the fourth quarter of 2023.

While BYD held the global electric-car sales crown in the fourth quarter of 2023, Tesla was number-one across calendar-year 2023.

In addition to Tesla's production challenges, industry analysts attribute the decline in Tesla sales to an oncoming global slowdown in the electric-car market, after the height of demand in the wake of the pandemic.

Tesla has continued to roll out aggressive price cuts to counter slowing demand – due in part to rising interest rates – however it appears they are no longer enough to balance out the market.

The 'cost of