- Tesla reported EV sales in the second quarter down by 13% over last year.
- The Elon Musk-owned automaker had two straight quarters of declines for first time.
- The dismal report comes as Musk's feud with President Trump heats up again.
In a week that began with the rekindling of an on-again, off-again feud between President Donald Trump and fellow billionaire Elon Musk, newly released sales figures show Musk-owned Tesla Inc. is continuing to lose its position of dominance in the global electric vehicle market.
A Wednesday report shows Tesla deliveries, a sales-figure stand-in, hit just over 384,000 in the second quarter of 2025, down over 13% from the same time last year and the second straight quarter of double-digit declines for the company.
While Tesla is experiencing a sales drop-off so far this year, global EV sales are on the rise and were up nearly 30% in the first four months of 2025.
Public perception of Musk’s close relationship with the president, and his actions as head of the Department of Government Efficiency, have soured some consumers on the Tesla brand while competition from both domestic and international electric vehicle makers has eaten into the company’s market lead.
Tesla’s foremost rival, Chinese manufacturer BYD, appears to be on track to become the global EV sales leader with the company reporting sales of 1 million electric vehicles in the first half of this year, putting it far ahead of Tesla’s year-to-date total of sales of about 721,000, according to a report from CNN. Tesla held on to its sales title by a thread in 2024, edging out BYD by 24,000 vehicles last year.
Some analysts point to Musk’s close personal association with the Tesla brand as a plus for those who view his actions outside the company as positive, but it’s also one that can have adverse consequences if those activities are viewed by potential customers in a negative light.
“Tesla has played a pivotal role in accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles, but our findings show that Elon Musk’s personal involvement in Tesla’s brand appears to be polarizing, pushing many buyers to look elsewhere,” said Ginny Buckley, chief executive of Electrifying.com, per a Newsweek report from earlier this year.
On the heels of a banner year
Tesla’s stock value had an incredible ride in 2024, gaining over 80% over the course of the year, with most of that price ascension realized after Trump won reelection.
Industry watchers say that post-election bump was driven in large part by investor confidence that Musk’s massive financial support of Trump, with campaign contributions reportedly north of $270 million, and subsequent appointment to lead the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, would bode well for Tesla’s future performance as the CEO joined the president’s inner circle.
But Tesla stock values have been headed the other direction since Trump took office, with share prices down over 16% so far in 2025 (though Tesla shares were up nearly 5% on Wednesday as investors responded to the second quarter sales report that, while bad, was better than most expected.)
What are Trump and Musk feuding about?
Shortly after Musk’s seemingly jovial departure from his DOGE post, marked by an Oval Office sendoff in late May, the tech mogul launched a series of public attacks of Trump’s “big, beautiful” tax and spending bill, including characterizing the legislation as a “disgusting abomination” that increases the federal deficit, favors out of date industries and will lead to massive U.S. job losses.
That legislation passed the Senate by the slimmest of margins Tuesday and must earn House approval before it can advance to the president’s desk.
Trump singled out Musk in a posting to Truth Social on Monday night, suggesting DOGE could put a new focus on addressing public subsidies to Musk-owned businesses like Tesla, SpaceX and Starlink. In his so-called “big, beautiful bill”, Trump is already proposing to phase out a long-running federal tax credit for electric vehicles buyers.
“Elon Musk knew, long before he so strongly Endorsed me for President, that I was strongly against the EV Mandate,” Trump wrote. “It is ridiculous, and was always a major part of my campaign. Electric cars are fine, but not everyone should be forced to own one.
“Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa. No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE. Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this? BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!”
In his own late night social media posting Monday, Musk responded to Trump’s threat, writing on X, “I am literally saying CUT IT ALL. Now.”
Musk also posted a poll on X asking his followers if it was “time to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle?”
“If this insane spending bill passes, the America Party will be formed the next day,” Musk wrote in a separate post on X Monday night. “Our country needs an alternative to the Democrat-Republican uniparty so that the people actually have a VOICE.”