Tesla sales peaked in 2023 and just keep dropping, new data shows
It’s a competition problem and an Elon Musk problem.
Tesla’s US sales were down by 10% in February compared to January, the company’s second straight monthly sales decline, according to Cox Automotive. The February drop was driven by a Cybertruck-sized decline in Cybertruck sales (down 32.5%), as well as more modest drops for the Model 3 (down 17.5%), and Model Y (down 3.1%).
Sales of the controversial Cybertruck seem to have peaked in September of last year, when roughly 5,300 of the massive stainless steel trucks were sold. That was not long after the vehicles originally rolled off the lot in the beginning of 2024.
As Sean Tucker recently put it for Cox-owned Kelley Blue Book, America hit peak Tesla back in February 2023, when Americans purchased 60,325 Teslas. “The company’s sales have not crossed the 60,000-model line in any month since,” he wrote. “Barring a major strategy change, they may never do so again.”
Tesla faces numerous headwinds that make sales declines somewhat of an inevitability, including increased competition, waning popularity thanks to the antics of CEO Elon Musk, and an aging lineup that the company has been trying to window-dress with light refreshes in recent years.
That all makes Tesla’s plan to “return to growth” and to double US Tesla production in two years much harder.
Year on year, new Tesla sales declined nearly 6%, Cox reported. Still, Tesla commands the US electric vehicle market, representing nearly half of all EV sales. The Tesla Model Y and Model 3 remained the top-selling EVs by volume, followed by the Ford Mustang Mach-E, Honda Prologue, and Rivian R1S.
The February sales estimates from Cox differ quite a bit from previous estimates from Wards, which showed that Tesla sales rose 14% year over year. Both firms have total sales for the first two months as roughly flat compared with the prior year.
