Tesla posted disappointing production and delivery numbers in the first quarter of 2024, well below Wall Street expectations. The EV maker delivered 386,810 EVs in the quarter, down 20.2% from the prior quarter and 8.5% from a year ago. It produced 433,371 vehicles during the period.

Tesla reported the production and delivery numbers for the first quarter of the year, and it was even worse than predicted. The EV maker missed Wall Street estimates, especially regarding deliveries, pointing to larger inventories than expected. This shows that the aggressive price cuts Tesla operated last year are starting to lose effect as the interest rates continue to stay high and interest in electric vehicles appears to calm down.

Tesla delivered only 386,810 electric vehicles in the three months through March 31, down 20.2% from Q4 2023 and 8.5% from Q1 2023. Wall Street analysts estimated an average of 454,200 vehicles delivered in the first quarter. The last time Tesla posted a decline in quarterly deliveries was in Q2 2020 when the pandemic forced the carmaker to shut down production.

This time, Tesla explained that the volume decline was partially caused by the upgrade works required at the Fremont factory for the updated Model 3. Ramping up production was also more difficult than estimated. Besides that, shipping diversions caused by the Red Sea conflict and the arson attack at Giga Berlin also led to production disruptions.

However, this doesn't explain why Tesla ended the quarter with a large gap between production and deliveries. This amounts to 46,561 vehicles, which means that more than 10% of the EVs Tesla produced in the quarter are still unsold. This shows that the end-of-quarter push didn't work as expected despite Tesla announcing price increases after April 1. The limited demand affected the Model Y the most. Tesla will likely be forced to reverse the price increase to clear inventory.

Although 2023 was a good year for Tesla, 2024 could prove a lot more challenging. The cooling of the EV market in the US and increased competition, especially in China, could put an end to the double-digit growth trend that Tesla enjoyed. The EV maker is well aware of this, as it warned during the Q4 2023 earnings call that it's in between growth waves, with the new one only expected in late 2025. This is when the next-generation compact EVs are expected to start deliveries.

Despite the disappointing results, Tesla remains the largest EV manufacturer in the world. That's because its main rival, BYD, also had a bad quarter, with only 300,114 EVs delivered in the first three months. BYD sold more than 526K EVs in Q4 2023, surpassing Tesla. However, the American carmaker retained the crown for 2023 and continues leading the way into 2024.

Following a disastrous first quarter caused by an EV demand slowdown, Tesla announced massive layoffs. According to an internal memo signed by Elon Musk, this could affect over 10% of the company's global workforce. The news comes after Cybertruck shifts were cut short at Giga Texas last week.
Tesla reported disappointing Q1 2024 production and delivery numbers on April 2, shocking analysts and investors. While the carmaker offered several explanations for the production drop, it couldn't explain why deliveries were so bad. During the quarter, Tesla added more than 46,000 vehicles to its inventory, reaching an all-time high. People expect the financial data planned for release on April 23 to be just as bad. The worst part is that Tesla doesn't yet see a solution to its demand problem.

This was made clear after rumors about massive layoffs started surfacing last week. The rumors claimed that Tesla intended to lay off as much as 20% of its workforce. The number turned out somehow lower, although we don't yet know by how much. On Monday, an internal memo signed by Elon Musk announced that "more than 10%" of Tesla's global workforce will get their last paycheck.

Although Tesla regularly lays off workers, this is the highest number yet, potentially affecting over 15,000 employees worldwide. Tesla laid off 2% of its global headcount in 2017, 9% in 2018, 7% in 2019 and about 3% in 2022. Usually, the company frames the layoffs as a necessary step to keep the organization more efficient by trimming the unnecessary fat. However, this round of layoffs appears to be different, as it comes after a disappointing first quarter.

Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that Tesla started reviewing its employee performance. Managers were instructed to identify key members of their teams, hinting at potential layoffs. At the same time, people complained that their performance reviews were delayed. Before the layoffs were announced, Tesla slowed production at several factories, including Giga Shanghai, its most efficient production facility.

Although layoffs are not unusual in the corporate world, there is more going on than just business as usual. One of the most surprising moves Tesla made recently was shortening the Cybertruck production shifts at Giga Texas. The Cybertruck was supposed to be production-constrained, with a difficult ramp-up that made it impossible to satisfy the huge demand. However, Tesla notified employees working on the Cybertruck production lines that their shifts would be reduced.

Normally, Cybertruck workers clocked 12-hour shifts from 6 AM to 6 PM and 6 PM to 6 AM. An internal memo obtained by Business Insider shows that Tesla notified workers that, beginning Monday, they would work 11 hours during the day and 10.5 hours during the night. If Tesla Cybertruck is production-constrained, as Elon Musk announced during the Q4 2023 earning call in January, why would Tesla want to produce less?

Tesla has started sending out severance information to laid-off employees.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk told staff the electric-car maker was slashing more than 10% of its workforce on Sunday night, according to an internal memo viewed by Business Insider. In the individual layoff notices to impacted workers that were sent in the hours after Musk's companywide email, Tesla told workers they'd receive their severance information "within 48 hours," according to emails viewed by BI.

The emails, which were sent to the workers' personal email accounts, notified staff they had been terminated effective immediately. The workers were also cut out of Tesla's internal systems around the same time, several former workers said.

The carmaker appears to be offering workers two months of severance — meaning the workers will be paid through June 14, five former workers told Business Insider. The severance packages did not appear to be weighted based on the length of time workers had been with Tesla, as workers with anywhere from a few months to several years of experience at Tesla received the same number of weeks paid out, the five sources told BI.

Under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN), companies that have more than 100 workers are required to provide 60 days of notice before a large-scale layoff. However, Tesla's severance offer could address any potential penalties if it were found to have violated the WARN Act, which says laid-off employees can be entitled to up to 60 days of pay and benefits if not given proper advanced notice.

Tesla is also offering to pay the cost of COBRA health insurance for two months for workers who had coverage through the company, according to a severance package offer viewed by BI.

In order to receive the severance pay, laid-off workers must sign the contract being offered, which prohibits them from participating in any lawsuit or mass arbitration against the company, sharing any of the company's trade secrets or publicly defaming Tesla. These types of clauses are relatively standard for severance agreements.

Tesla said the severance agreement must be signed within five business days of its receipt and workers will receive their severance pay 45 days after their termination date, according to a severance agreement viewed by BI.

While the severance information appears to have started going out overnight, several Tesla workers who were impacted by the layoff told BI they had yet to receive a severance information as of Wednesday morning.

The severance agreement did not include any information regarding equity awards or unused PTO. An exit email that was sent to laid-off employees on Tuesday said Tesla workers had "either 30 days or 3 months (or both)" from their termination date to exercise their vested stock options and staff would have their PTO that they'd accrued leading up to their termination date paid out in their final paycheck.

Tesla to speed up rollout of cheaper electric cars

Tesla cut two key executives and laid off the 500 staff members who supported the operations of its Supercharger EV charging network, The Information reported on Tuesday, citing CEO Elon Musk's email to senior managers.

Musk cited falling sales and impatience with the overall progress in headcount reduction as the primary drivers behind the cuts and reportedly suggested that more will follow, warning his executives to take headcount reduction measures seriously.

Rebecca Tinucci, senior director of the electric vehicle maker's Supercharger business, and Daniel Ho, head of the new vehicles program, are both out. Musk also plans to dismiss everyone working for Tinucci and Ho, including the roughly 500 employees who work in the Supercharger group, the report said. The Supercharger layoffs stand out as particularly surprising, because the Supercharger network is widely regarded as a key advantage for Tesla over its competition — as of January, Tesla had built 6,000 Supercharger stations with nearly 55,000 chargers.

Tesla's public policy team, which was led by former executive Rohan Patel, will also be dissolved.

Per Musk, Tesla needs to remain "absolutely hard core" about managing headcount and costs and said the cuts should serve as a warning to anybody on staff who isn't taking the initiatives seriously. Tesla had 140,473 employees globally as of end-2023, Reuters said.

Ho joined Tesla in 2013 and served as program manager on Model S, the 3, and the Y before being put in charge of all new vehicles. Tinucci joined in 2018. Two other leaders — Patel and battery development chief Drew Baglino — announced their departures earlier this month, when Tesla also ordered the layoffs of more than 10% of its workforce.

BEIJING - U.S. automaker Tesla sold 62,167 China-made electric vehicles in April, down 18% from a year earlier, lagging the broader market's surge, China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) data showed on Tuesday.

Tesla shares fell 3.8% on Tuesday, amid concerns about softening demand for Tesla EVs and an intensifying price war, especially against Chinese rivals. Tesla's China-made cars, which accounted for over half the automaker's global deliveries last year, are also exported to various markets including Europe and the CPCA didn't provide a breakdown of Tesla exports by destination. Tuesday's numbers are a prelude of full data for April due out later this week.

Deliveries of China-made Model 3 and Model Y vehicles slid 30.2% from March. The sharp slide contrasts with rising EV sales in the world's largest auto market, albeit at the slowest pace in a year in the first quarter.

China's new-energy vehicle sales including battery-powered EVs and plug-in hybrids were estimated to hit 800,000 units in April, up 33% on the year and a 2% drop from the month before, according to CPCA data.

Tesla's biggest Chinese rival BYD, with its Dynasty and Ocean lineups of EVs and plug-in hybrids, sold 312,048 passenger vehicles in April, up 48.97% year-on-year and a 3.5% increase from March.

Tesla, led by its billionaire CEO Elon Musk, saw first-quarter global vehicle deliveries fall for the first time in nearly four years.

Tesla's sales of China-made vehicles declined 4% during the January to March period, from a year earlier.

The company began the second quarter announcing layoffs of more than 10% of its global workforce and slashing vehicle prices in major markets including the United States, China and Europe.

Late April, Musk visited China and made progress towards rolling out Tesla's advanced driver-assistance package in China, which may help it better compete with local rivals.

Gruenheide to be idled amidst protests

Tesla will shut down production in its German plant in Gruenheide for four days due to protests against its expansion plans, German newspaper Handelsblatt reported on Tuesday.

The electric car manufacturer is sending all employees to work from home on Friday, according to an email seen by Handelsblatt that was sent to employees on Monday.

Thursday is a public holiday in Germany.

Production will end with the late shift on Wednesday and begin again with the night shift on Sunday, Handelsblatt said. Access to the factory will only be possible with manager approval.

Tesla was not immediately available to comment.

Tesla's ambitions to expand its German plant hit a roadblock in February when citizens voted against a motion to raze trees and make way for the larger site.

Activists have announced several protests against Tesla's expansion for the coming week, including a rally in front of the factory gates on Friday.

BP Wants To Snag Abandoned Tesla Supercharger Sites
Tesla suddenly scaled back its EV charging efforts. The competition is swooping in.

Tesla recently made the controversial move to drastically scale back its Supercharger business, leaving the division's roughly 500 employees out of work. The rest of the country's electric vehicle charging industry is jumping at the opportunity to make up ground. BP Pulse, the oil and gas giant's EV charging subsidiary, told Bloomberg that it "is aggressively looking to acquire real estate to scale our network, which is a heightened focus following the recent Tesla announcement."
It's not clear yet that Tesla is abandoning upcoming projects en masse. In the wake of reporting on the layoffs, Tesla CEO Elon Musk clarified that the company was slowing down expansion of the Supercharger network and focusing on upgrading existing locations. But Tesla has canceled at least a few planned sites in New York, InsideEVs previously reported. According to multiple outlets, the layoffs have thrown ongoing Supercharger projects into limbo as outside vendors and customers saw emails to their usual Tesla contacts bounce back.

BP and other charging providers are wading into the chaos in the hopes of snagging some prime locations for themselves. “If there are stranded real estate partners who are looking for someone to call, they should feel free to pick up the phone and call me or look me up on LinkedIn,” Sujay Sharma, CEO of BP Pulse Americas, told Bloomberg. Charge point operators like Tesla typically strike deals to lease land from shopping centers, supermarket chains and the like. BP also can leverage a huge network of existing gas stations, giving it a competitive edge.

BP isn't alone here. The ride-hailing and EV charging upstart Revel is considering the locations Tesla has abandoned New York, the company's CEO recently told InsideEVs. The CEO of EVgo, another large charging network, said on a recent earnings call that Tesla's decision creates an opportunity for other charging outfits to "pick up some of the slack in terms of charging station growth that Tesla may be leaving behind." BP is one of several gas station chains that's investing heavily in EV charging, alongside Pilot-Flying J and Love's Travel Stops. In 2023, BP said it would plunge $1 billion into its U.S. EV charging efforts by 2030. Last year, it also placed a $100 million order for Tesla's charging hardware, which it would operate independently. That was the first deal of its kind. Tesla historically manufactured, owned and operated its Supercharger network, which is now the largest charging network in the U.S. by far.

​​​​​​​Tesla has left out its goal of delivering 20 million vehicles a year by 2030 in its latest impact report, another sign the company is tempering its auto ambitions as it shifts focus to robotaxis.

Musk said in 2020 that Tesla aspired to sell 20 million vehicles by the end of the current decade — nearly twice as many as those sold by Toyota, the world's largest automaker.

"Our goal is to build and deliver 20 million vehicles a year by 2030. To achieve this goal, we need to make our products even more accessible," the company had said, while reiterating the goal in its 2022 impact report.

However, Musk and the company have shifted tact, focusing on autonomous driving technology as a primary growth driver for the firm, with the automaker set to unveil its robotaxi, dubbed "Cybercab", on Aug. 8.

CEO Elon Musk said last month that Tesla would use current product lines for new affordable vehicles, as it retreated from more ambitious plans to produce an all-new model that was expected to cost $25,000. The company's shares fell about 2% on Thursday.

After years of growing at breakneck speed, Tesla has hit a speed bump as EV demand softens and competition intensifies. In a bid to restructure, the EV maker laid off more than 10% of its staff as it positions to focus on robotaxis, humanoid robots and autonomous technology.

Reuters first reported in April that Tesla had canceled the long-promised inexpensive car that investors were counting on to drive its growth into a mass-market automaker, instead focusing on robotaxis.

Tesla's sales push and a slew of price cuts helped it deliver 1.81 million vehicles last year, up 38% from 2022, but well below the long-term growth target of 50% that Musk had set three years ago.

The Supercharger network is arguably Tesla's crown jewel and an important reason why people choose a Tesla electric vehicle. Earlier reliability reports indicated that the Supercharger network offers one of the best experiences in the industry, thanks to an almost perfect uptime rate. However, the 2023 Impact Report reveals that Tesla used a deceptive method to assess uptime, casting doubts about its honesty.
Tesla started installing its first charging stations about the same time it began selling the Model S in 2012. Over the years, the Supercharger network has become one of the best charging networks in the world. It's also among the biggest when considering the number of DC fast-charging posts. The seamless integration with Tesla vehicles provides a strong incentive to choose Tesla over other electric vehicle brands.

In recent years, the EV maker has expanded the Supercharger network at neck-breaking speeds. Still, it has always been careful to preserve the high quality and reliability of its chargers. While EV owners could rarely rely on third-party networks, which often lead drivers to non-functional chargers, Tesla Superchargers are almost always working. This has led to an uptime of nearly 100%, with the lowest rate of the past five years (99.74%) in 2020 during the pandemic.

Tesla released the 2023 Impact Report on Thursday, and sure enough, there was a section dedicated to the Supercharger reliability. Tesla advertises its Supercharger network with the line "Chargers that just work," with an uptime rate of 99.97% in 2023. If this reminds me of the unanimous votes in totalitarian countries, which rarely reflect reality, it is because Tesla uses some shady method to assess the uptime.

Don't get me wrong. I am sure that Tesla Supercharger has one of the best reliability scores in the industry. However, the way Tesla presents it casts a shadow on the report and makes people question its accuracy. According to a slide in the 2023 Impact Report, the uptime of Superchargers sites reflects "the average percentage of sites globally that had at least 50% of their daily capacity functional for the year. "

That's a very low bar if you ask me, and confusing as hell. According to this metric, a whole Supercharger site can be down every day for 11 hours and still counts as 100% uptime. Or half the stalls at a station could be down the whole year, and it gets the same result. Even if the Superchargers have the best uptime rates, you wouldn't know if a single stall in the network had a 50% uptime or 100%. This is a rather strange definition of uptime.

Moreover, it is difficult to compare these numbers with those of other companies if they don't use the same metric. Again, I'm sure Tesla Superchargers are the golden standard, with better uptime than every other charging network in the world. However, the way Tesla presents this information doesn't do it justice.