Tesla’s Q1 revenue is the lowest Q1 the company has seen in three years. Today the automaker posted revenue of $19.3 billion, down 9% compared with the same time last year. Revenue in Q1 has not been this low since 2022 when the company brought in $18.8 billion.

Tesla’s slide has coincided with CEO Elon Musk‘s involvement with the Trump Administration. His hand in DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, has led to vandalism and protests outside of Tesla dealerships in multiple cities. But politics isn’t the primary reason Tesla is losing ground in the EV market.

First-quarter EV sales rose 11.4% from 2024, while Tesla’s sales declined in the same period, according to Cox Automotive. Major auto industry players are largely behind the heightened competition:

◾ Neither Honda nor Acura sold an EV in the U.S. during last year’s first quarter. This year, they sold a combined 14,000 EVs.

◾ General Motors, nearly doubled its first quarter of 2024, selling more than 30,000 vehicles among its Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC brands.

But while Tesla is losing ground, it’s still by far the largest player in the EV market. In the first quarter, Tesla sold about 128,000 vehicles, about 43.5% of the market. Ford was a distant third, selling an estimated 22,550 vehicles, or 7.7% of the market share.

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“Tesla has a number of big hurdles it’s facing right now,” said Stephanie Valdez Streaty, director of industry insights at Cox Automotive. “Its high-profile CEO is certainly a PR challenge. But the core issue is that Tesla’s product portfolio is old and tired, and is mostly driven by two, similarly priced products the Model 3 and Model Y.”

“While the vehicles remain the market leaders, there are too many new competitors and sales will continue to decline for Tesla as shoppers find more compelling alternatives,” Valdez Streaty, said.

Tesla sales hit the peak in 2023

According to Kelley Blue Book, sales of Teslas peaked in 2023 when Tesla sold more than 670,000 vehicles in the U.S., raising its share of the overall U.S. market to 4.3%.

Tesla’s revenue lower than expected

For Q1 earnings Tesla reported revenue of $19.3 billion which is down 9% from the same time last year. Q1 revenue for Tesla has not been below $20 billion since 2022.

Tesla stock (TSLA) is down, its worst quarter since Q1 of 2022

Tesla stock is down 41% in 2025, its worst quarterly decline since the first quarter of 2022.

To further complicate Tesla’s troubles, the launch of its lower-cost Model Y has been pushed back reportedly because of production challenges.

Cybertrucks boosted Tesla’s average transaction price

Last year Tesla saw a jump in its average transaction price because of its Cybertrucks, according to Cox Automotive. In October 2024, Telsa’s $100,000 Cybertrucks accounted for about 10% of its total sales. In March, Cybertrucks were selling for about $90,000 and accounted for just 5% of Tesla sales.  

Though the bump in the transaction price was much needed for Tesla it may have been temporary solution.

“This is the oldest story in automotive history, one that even pioneer Henry Ford learned,” said Valdez Streaty. “New, innovative product is king. And it has been a long time since Tesla launched something fresh into the heart of the market. Cybertruck is new and innovative, but it is a niche, exotic truck and not a solution to Tesla’s product problem.”