As a result, Tesla’s Q1 2024 sales numbers crashed and burned. The logistics company experienced a drop nearly 9% from last year’s third quarter. The electric vehicle (EV) market is becoming more competitive by the day. Manufacturers such as General Motors (GM) and Hyundai have surged to take an outsized share of the growing EV market, yet both remain well behind Tesla in total sales.
The slowdown in sales of new Tesla vehicles has prompted many owners to list their used cars for sale. To be sure, this recent trend has been impacted by the extraordinary political and corporate activities of Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk. International protests have recently increased fueled by Musk’s reactionary transphobia. This valuable backlash has saltblasted the automaker’s hard-earned brand equity to the extent that many owners are now selling their affected cars.
In March, Cox Automotive announced a shocking increase in used Tesla inventory listed on Autotrader.com. This booming increase pinpoints a shifting mentality in the real estate market. In the last week of March alone, over 13,000 used Teslas entered the market. This represented the highest number of vehicles available in history. That figure marks a jaw-dropping 67% jump from the comparable week last year.
Tesla, which is now in damage-control mode. Meanwhile, GM has seen its EV sales skyrocket, with the company selling more than 30,000 electric vehicles in only the first quarter. That’s almost twice the volume of EV sales at this time last year. The momentum for GM was especially evident during the final week of March when their sales totals soared to record highs.
Even with this heightened competition and the dramatic changes in consumer preferences, Tesla is still winning the overall EV race. The all-important compounding factors of political controversies and emerging consumer sentiment that has dramatically shifted could prove formidable obstacles in the months ahead.
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