Summary
Tesla faces a second consecutive year of sales decline after a 13% drop in Q1 2024 deliveries, the steepest in nearly three years.
CEO Elon Musk’s alignment with Donald Trump and far-right politics has damaged Tesla’s brand, triggering global protests and vandalism.
Analysts attribute the sales slide primarily to reputational harm, compounded by aging models and fierce competition from BYD and others.
Deutsche Bank forecasts a 5% sales dip this year. Musk’s political role has fueled calls for boycotts, with concerns that prolonged involvement could cause lasting brand damage.
You must be in USA, where Tesla is protected behind trade barriers. Because in the rest of the world, Tesla is not that competitive anymore.
If you want straight up competition VW group has better cars and a wider range (VW, Audi, Skoda, Cupra and Porsche). Renault also has some good options, and If you want even better than that, we have BMW and Mercedes. But they are also more expensive.
If you want good range but cheap, we have decent Chinese options like BYD, MG, NIO, Xpeng despite the 17% tariff.
But also Nissan and Toyota have good options, and Volvo and Polestar. And Mazda just announced their e6.
Even Stelantis seems to be making a slightly better effort now, With Opel, Peugeot, Citroen and FIAT.
None of the above cars will do phantom brakes, or cut your fingers off on the trunk. or lock you in if the car catches fire. Or have a 30% failure rate at the first mandatory safety check. Not even the Chinese are that bad!
Here (EU) there is absolutely no reason to buy a Tesler, except if you only heard 10 years ago they were good, and haven’t had any updates since.
Oh BTW even USA had a decent competitor with the Ford Mustang. But I guess that’s over now, and I’d really hate to have to buy an EV in USA now.
There are basically two reasonably priced sedans here, with the Ionic 6 being the other. I guess there’s the Porsche Taycan.
Oh boy I completely forgot Hyundai and KIA?!
I’m not so fond of the instrumentation of the Ionic though, it’s too much like Tesla, lacking buttons and relying on using the screen.
KIA doesn’t make EV sedans.
I know, I just forgot to mention them in my list of available options here that compete with Tesla.
I did look at the BYD Han, but besides not being available here, it certainly isn’t cheaper on price.
Ideally I’d like something that does Vehicle to Home charging through the normal charge port. (Not outlets.)