NEW YORK (AP) — Sales of Tesla vehicles rose in the past three months after a brutal year of boycotts over Elon Musk's politics but still fell short of expectations.
The company reported Thursday that sales rose 6% to 358,023 in the three months through March, the first time in three years it posted a first-quarter increase from the year-earlier period. The increase follows a year of plunging sales due to an aging lineup and boycotts over Musk's right-wing political stands.
Still, the results disappointed investors, who sold heavily on Thursday.
One reason was that sales were 6% lower than the 381,000 that financial analysts had expected, according to a survey by researcher FactSet. And they were sharply off from the sales for the three months ended in December.
Tesla has had to contend with lower demand due to the September expiration of a $7,500 tax credit for EV buyers, a blow to sales across the industry.
The company is hoping cheaper versions of Tesla models X and 3 introduced late last year will eventually lift sales. Tesla is also now producing a self-driving Cybercab with no steering wheel to attract customers.
Details on the new offerings could come out on April 22 when Tesla reports quarterly earnings.
Financial analysts expect the company will report net income roughly doubled to 25 cents a share on $23 billion in revenue, according to FactSet.
The heavy selling Thursday pushed Tesla stock down 5.4% to $360.59 per share.
Still, the stock is trading 30% higher than a year ago and its valuation is sky-high, too — 181 times expected earnings versus 22 times for the broad stock market.
That reflects a marketing victory of sorts for Musk who has been telling investors to focus less on car sales and more on the company's chances of dominating a future in which fewer people own cars, self-driving Tesla robotaxis are nearly everywhere and Telsa's Optimus robots are taking over for humans in factories and homes.
Before that future comes, if it does, European and Chinese EV makers are stealing market share. Chinese maker BYD recently reported it had made 2.26 million electric vehicles last year versus Tesla's 1.64 million to become the new record holder.
