Tesla reported a 9 per cent decline in first-quarter revenue and a continued erosion of its profit margins amid a sharp fall in the sale of its vehicles.
In a filing on Tuesday, the electric-car maker said revenue fell to $21.3 billion from $23.3 billion in the same period last year, missing analysts’ expectations for $22.3 billion. That marks the first year-on-year quarterly drop since the start of 2020. Tesla shares were 6 per cent higher in after-hours trading.
The disappointing earnings come at a turbulent time for chief executive Elon Musk. Tesla shares had plunged more than 40 per cent since the start of the year after warning of slowing vehicle deliveries, a potential move of its incorporation to Texas from Delaware and revealing plans to cut more than 10 per cent of its workforce — at least 14,000 jobs.
Earlier this month, Tesla said that it had delivered 386,810 electric cars between January and March, a fifth lower than the previous quarter, and 8 per cent below the same period in 2023. It has continued to cut prices for its most popular models as excess inventory piles up.
The company also pledged to “accelerate the launch of new models ahead of our previously communicated start of production in the second half of 2025″, including more “more affordable” cars. --Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2024
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