Tesla delivered more cars during the first three months of this year than during any other quarter in its history, the company announced at the weekend.
The automaker delivered a record 422,875 vehicles between January and March, which represented a 36 percent increase on the same period last year. At the start of 2023 Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk suggested that deliveries could hit 2 million this year, which would mean delivering half as many cars again as it did in the whole of 2022.
The strong first quarter sales were a direct result of Tesla implementing dramatic price cuts in January as a response to disappointing numbers in the final quarter of 2022. Those cuts chopped up to $13,000 from the price of certain Model Y SUVs, and there were also big savings to be made on the Model 3 sedan. Prices have risen since the cuts were first announced, but since many Teslas now once again qualify for tax credits they are more affordable than they were this time last year.
But comparing the delivery numbers for the first part of this year with those for the Q4 2022 reveals that deliveries only rose by 4 percent. While deliveries of the more mass-market cars, the Model 3 and Model Y, increased by 6 percent, deliveries of the more expensive Model S sedan and Model X SUV fell by 38 percent.
Related: Tesla Slashes Model S And X Prices By Up To $10,000 Or 9% In The U.S.
Industry analysts think that 4 percent overall rise is a worrying figure that points to consumer worries over the economy and also an increasingly strong presence from rivals who are finally asserting themselves in the EV sector after letting Tesla have its own way for so long.
“If they wouldn’t have done the price cut, it would have been ugly. I think what it tells you is the economy is getting tough,” Gene Munster, the managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, told reporters for Reuters.
“[The figures] showed an acceleration, but they didn’t accelerate to the level that Elon had suggested it would.”
Some analysts are predicting that Tesla will be forced to introduce further price cuts because rival automakers, including Ford, also cut prices in response to Tesla’s move. But investors will be wary about Tesla slimming down profit margins even further.
