Tesla built 362,615 vehicles and delivered 336,681 during the first quarter of 2025, the company announced Wednesday.
Production was down slightly due to upgrades at all four factories to prepare for the new Model Y, which Tesla says is ramping up smoothly. The company previously mentioned the transition
Most of the numbers came from the Model 3 and Model Y lineup, with over 323,000 deliveries in that category. Other models — like the Cybertruck and Model S/X — made up about 13,000 deliveries.
Tesla also deployed 10.4 gigawatt-hours of energy storage, marking a strong quarter for its energy business.
Analyst reactions were swift to the Q1 deliveries. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, a Tesla bull, said, “We knew 1Q Tesla deliveries would be soft but these numbers were bad. We are not going to look at these numbers with rose colored glasses…they were a disaster on every metric. Refresh issues but brand crisis key. The time has come for Musk…fork in the road moment for Tesla.”
According to Politico, Tesla CEO Elon Musk is said to be stepping back from his role at DOGE in the coming weeks. Despite the Q1 deliveries and the news of the step back, shares of Tesla are up 5% for the day.
The company plans to release full financial results on Tuesday, April 22 after markets close. A live webcast and Q&A session with Tesla management will take place at 4:30 p.m. Central / 5:30 p.m. Eastern on Tesla’s investor relations website. A replay will be available about two hours after the broadcast.
I did the math. Tesla sales are up in Q1 2025. How can this be? In Q1 they couldn't build as many Model Y because of the changeover to the refreshed (Juniper) Model. All reports said Tesla lost "several" weeks. Not "one", or "a couple". But SEVERAL. That means at least 3. 3 weeks production of Model Y is 14.7% of Teslas normal quarterly production.
I took Q1 2024 sales and subtracted the 14.7% lost production. Result? Expected Q1 sales for 2025 would be 330,140 if same performance as 2024. Actual was 336,681. So Tesla BEATS my estimated sales by 6,541 units.
Wall St and Tesla and other estimates/expectations were off. Perhaps they thought the Model Y ramp would have been faster and less impact. There is also considerable truth to consumers holding off purchase of a Model Y for the refreshed version that I did not use in my calculations. Now that we have factual impact of the launch, we can dismiss the narrative of "brand damage" or "DOGE protests" reducing sales.