While Elon Musk is betting everything on his space company Space Tesla continues to face a negative period, characterized by a persistent decline in sales due to the withdrawal of state incentives for electric cars and fierce Chinese competition. On the other hand, Elon Musk is focusing on technology and advanced services, implementing autonomous driving and robotics, in addition to solar energy and storage systems.
Sales figures are lower than expected
In the first quarter of 2026, Tesla reported deliveries of 358,000 vehicles, up 14% from the previous quarter and below analysts’ estimates of 370,000 vehicles. Consensus estimates compiled by the company would also be higher at 364 million units. However, the figure is above (+6%) the volumes of the previous year (336 thousand), when Tesla had suffered a drop of 13%. Geographically, Europe continues to slow down deliveries, but Tesla has recorded increases in some core markets, such as China. Deliveries are the closest indicator to the sales figure reported by Tesla. Production at the end of the first quarter stood at 408 thousand units.
The withdrawal of incentives
The expiration (not renewed) of the incentives for the purchase of electric cars paid by the federal government contributed to the trend of deliveries. The $7,500 federal tax credit expired at the end of September, without being renewed by the Trump administration. A sort of “punishment” for abandoning the President’s team and the MAGA project. And, 2026 will not be better for Tesla, as the incentive effect will be combined with the impact of competition and the crisis in Europe.
A negative trend that does not stop
In all of 2025, Tesla’s deliveries stood at 1.64 million vehicles compared to 1.79 million in 2024. 2025 was the second year of decline in deliveries, but some analysts are already predicting a decline for the third consecutive year, after having cut their forecasts for 2026.
To counter this decline, Musk is reorienting the company towards the production of the self-driving Cybercab (a sort of self-driving taxi) and the Optimus humanoid robots. Tesla has not yet marketed these products, but in January it announced the cessation of production of its flagship models, Model S and
But Musk is also focusing on energy and, in the first quarter, he says he installed 8.8 gigawatt hours of storage systems, after the record of 14.2 gigawatt hours recorded in the fourth quarter of 2025. In the first quarter of 2025, the company installed 10.4 GWh of its energy products.
Stocks down on Wall Street
The market took the data released by Tesla very badly and yesterday penalized the stock with a loss of up to 5%, before closing down 3.3% at $317.6. with yesterday’s drop, the stock has already left 20% of its value on the ground this year, eroding a capitalization which, in the most favorable phase, was around 1.4 trillion dollars and has fallen to around 1.13 trillion. Tesla shares fell 15% in the first quarter of this year, continuing a trend that began two years ago. The stock suffered a sharp decline from January to March of 2024 and 2025, before rising again in all other quarters, closing the year on a rise.
