Days after Tesla launched dismal 2025 gross sales numbers, CEO Elon Musk took to twitter to not solely overestimate the corporate’s present manufacturing numbers, however to wrongly declare that they’re “rising” after two years of declines.
Tesla’s supply outcomes, launched Friday, confirmed whole 2025 automobile deliveries of 1.63 million automobiles.
That’s an entire lot of automobiles, and places Tesla in 2nd place globally for EV deliveries, behind Chinese language EV maker BYD.
2nd place isn’t any slouch, but it surely’s a decline from Tesla’s earlier place because the world’s chief in EVs. And that change in locations comes not simply from supply development for BYD, however a decline in Tesla gross sales, regardless of international EV market which continues to rise
Tesla’s gross sales decline was even worse than Tesla’s personal low expectations. And the decline is even worse in some territories, like Europe.
And this yr’s decline builds on a earlier decline from final yr, that means Tesla’s gross sales have now declined for 2 years in a row, for the primary time within the firm’s historical past.
These declines occurred regardless of a slate of latest or refreshed fashions, just like the Mannequin 3 Highland and Mannequin Y Juniper. The Juniper refresh, particularly, was presupposed to create extra demand for the previously world’s best-selling automotive, the Mannequin Y. However it didn’t retake that crown in 2025.
After which there’s the Cybertruck. The Cybertruck began deliveries in late 2023 (scaling up in early 2024), with over 1,000,000 individuals reportedly ready to buy it. However it turned out to be a industrial flop, and gross sales are actually low.
After two years of declining gross sales in a rising market, most firms could be in emergency mode, attempting to determine easy methods to reverse the pattern.
Or, if you happen to’re Elon Musk, you may simply fake that down is up, displaying ignorance of the final two years of your organization’s operations.
Musk reveals he doesn’t know what’s occurring together with his firm (once more)
Musk took to twitter as we speak to speak about NVIDIA’s AI bulletins on the Client Electronics Present, occurring this week in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In his response, he dismissed the remainder of the auto trade’s developments in AI {hardware}, bragging about Tesla’s chips (which have nonetheless didn’t ship on Musk’s self-driving guarantees). However in the long run of the tweet, he mentioned one thing significantly revealing about his data of his firm’s workings.
That final sentence is elucidating: Musk claims that Tesla is making “~2M automobiles/yr and rising.”
First, Tesla isn’t making 2 million automobiles a yr. In actual fact, it has by no means reached that quantity, peaking at 1.85 million in 2023. However as talked about above, that quantity has gone down since then, and Tesla solely made 1.65 million automobiles in 2025.
He did put a “~” in there, however that tilde is doing plenty of work, lifting Tesla’s declining manufacturing numbers by practically 350k models, which is hardly a rounding error by anybody’s estimation.
However one factor Tesla’s manufacturing numbers aren’t doing is rising. They’ve been taking place for 2 years, not up. It boggles the thoughts {that a} CEO may be so disconnected from his personal firm’s operations that he doesn’t know this (however then, he did just lately declare the Mannequin Y was nonetheless the best-selling automotive on the earth, regardless that it was dethroned months in the past).
Additional, the following yr is trying to be a tough one in Tesla’s house market, largely because of the Musk’s personal opposition to electrical automobiles.
Musk is the explanation his firm is sinking
Musk has devoted a big quantity of his private wealth, and most of his public advocacy, to supporting a fossil-fuel-backed political occasion that’s actively attempting to hurt EVs within the US.
This really did result in a report quarter for Tesla in Q3, pushed by a pull-forward in demand of patrons buying EVs earlier than republicans inflated their worth by $7,500. However that may seemingly be adopted by a trough in gross sales for the following yr or two, because the insurance policies Musk funded work to improve air pollution and gasoline prices for People.
And now, we’re attending to the crux of the issue: the gross sales decline Tesla is at the moment experiencing comes because the direct results of Musk’s meddling in politics, and Tesla is aware of it.
Musk spent just a few months in 2025 in an unofficial authorities advisory place, throughout which he advisable adjustments that may improve the US finances deficit and which precipitated tens of millions of deaths. These months had been adopted by a fiery breakup whereby Musk said Donald Trump’s shut affiliation with famed intercourse trafficker Jeffrey Epstein (although this didn’t cease Musk from later bragging a few “pretty dinner” with mentioned affiliate).
Past his time cosplaying in authorities, Musk’s habits has included help for German neo-Nazis and agreeing with a protection of Hitler’s actions within the Holocaust, amongst many different white supremacist statements.
All of those actions have pushed protests towards the corporate, embarrassed homeowners and pushed many shoppers away, resulting in the gross sales declines we see above.
Musk did present one second of lucidity in December, throughout an interview with Katie Miller, spouse of American white supremacist Stephen Miller. In that interview, Musk mentioned that if he had a chance to take again his time cosplaying as a authorities official, he wouldn’t do it once more, and that he as an alternative ought to have “labored on [his] firms.”
However that second of lucidity is outwardly over, now that he’s again to pretending down is up, and considering his firm’s fortunes are going within the actual other way that he’s main them.
That mentioned, it does make sense on a psychological degree that Musk would ignore the unfavorable pattern he’s precipitated in his personal firm’s gross sales. In any case, if he acknowledged it, he may need to grapple together with his personal inadequacy as a CEO. And the way might he probably ever do this, together with his huge military of bots (each computerized and human ones) telling him he’s quite a bit smarter than he really is.
Cost your electrical automobile at house utilizing rooftop photo voltaic panels. Discover a dependable and competitively priced photo voltaic installer close to you on EnergySage, at no cost. They’ve pre-vetted installers competing for your enterprise, making certain high-quality options and 20-30% financial savings. It’s free, with no gross sales calls till you select an installer. Examine personalised photo voltaic quotes on-line and obtain steerage from unbiased Power Advisers. Get began right here. – advert*
FTC: We use revenue incomes auto affiliate hyperlinks. Extra.
