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Updated at 10:33 AM EDT
Tesla shares moved lower in early Wednesday trading after the EV maker posted weaker-than-expected first-quarter deliveries amid slumping sales and coordinated protests tied to Elon Musk's political role in the White House.
Tesla (TSLA) delivered 336,681 new cars in Q1, down 13% from last year's tally of 386,810 and 32% from the record 495,570 reached over the final three months of last year.
Analysts' forecasts for deliveries ranged from 340,000 to around 380,000, with Visible Alpha data pegging the March-quarter target at around 373,000.
However, during Tesla's extraordinary post-election rally, when investors were betting that Musk's close ties to President Donald Trump would support the group's sales, Wall Street analysts had expected a total of around 470,000 in first quarter deliveries.
"This decline can be attributed to two main factors. First, Tesla has faced some level of brand damage as a result from Elon’s [Department of Government Efficiency] efforts," said Deepwater Asset Management analyst Gene Munster. "The Tesla brand has unintentionally become a political statement.
"Second, Tesla has been retooling the Model Y, [which] has delayed the overall supply of vehicles for the quarter ...," he added. "Although we believe the rest of 2025 will improve from this quarter, it's going to be a transitional year."
Tesla delivered 323,800 units of its Model 3 sedan and Model Y midsize SUV, as well as 12,881 of its higher-priced Model S sedan and Model X full-size SUV, the report indicated.
Production fell 16.3% from last year to 362,615 vehicles, thanks in part to tight supply chains and fading demand in China. Model 3/Y production was pegged at 345,454 units with Model S/X and "other model" output at 17,161 units.
Tesla sales in Europe were pummeled over the first three months of the year, with data showing deliveries in France and Sweden falling to the lowest levels in four years, and year-on-year declines of 65% in Denmark and 42% in the Netherlands in March.
In China, Tesla's biggest market, sales data for Q1 show a 22% decline from year-earlier levels and an overall tally of around 172,250 units.
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"We are concerned with recent moderating growth trends across all three key regions (US, EU, China)," said Wells Fargo analyst Colin Langan. "Few levers remain to increase volumes outside of pricing and model refreshes as the company continues to offer aggressive financing promotions to salvage deliveries."
Langan, who named Tesla as a new "tactical short" in a note published Tuesday, said he was skeptical of the group's ability to execute a safe and successful launch of the self-driving Cybercab later this spring in Austin "given limited unsupervised testing & their vision-only approach." (Short sales are bets that a stock's price will decline.)