Tesla spent more than a year advertising that “more affordable” cars were on the way, and they finally arrived last October, with stripped-down versions of the Model Y and Model 3 starting at $39,990 and $36,990, respectively. But the new vehicles aren’t moving the needle much for Tesla’s overall sales, first-quarter figures show.
Tesla said Thursday it delivered 358,023 EVs worldwide in the first three months of the year, below analysts’ expectations of about 368,000. The company also produced far more than it sold, with the final tally coming in at 408,386.
That means Tesla delivered only about 6% more cars in the first quarter of this year than in the first quarter of 2025, which was the company’s worst quarter in years. Q1 2025 figures were also affected by the company shutting down production lines for a few weeks to change equipment, meaning Q1 2026 figures likely aren’t much of a real improvement.
The sales figures are impressive for a company that once promised to grow EV sales by 50% every year. And the poor first quarter means Tesla is now at risk of seeing its overall sales decline for a third straight year – at a time when its profits are also falling.
Tesla isn’t the only company struggling to increase EV sales, especially in the United States. Legacy automakers have scaled back — and in some cases, canceled outright — once grand plans and ambitions for new EVs. Newcomers have also struggled. Rivian announced Thursday morning that shipped just over 10,000 vehicles in the first quarter, more or less the same percentage seems to report each quarter.
Rivian has a new model waiting in the wings as it is set to start shipping its cheapest R2 SUV, which is expected to boost sales. The company believes the R2 is a huge success, despite the fact that its cheaper version won’t arrive until late 2027.
Tesla doesn’t have a new mass-market vehicle ready to launch. The company had he was working on a much lower cost EV that was expected to cost around $25,000. But CEO Elon Musk killed the project to go all-in on the ‘CyberCab’. In place of that $25,000 car, Musk had Tesla develop the stripped-down Model Y and Model 3.
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The only truly new model Tesla has released in recent years is the Cybertruck. While that beats most other all-electric trucks, it was a complete failure against Tesla’s—and Musk’s—expectations for the steel-clad electric vehicle. In the first quarter of this year, Tesla sold just 16,130 “other models,” which include the Cybertruck and the now-retired Model S and Model X.
