Tesla has taken a bit of a tumble in the Golden State.
The company is no longer selling the majority of new EVs registered in California. Elon Musk’s brand saw its slice of EV sales in the state fall to 43.9 percent in Q1, compared to 55.5 percent in the previous year. The Golden State’s zero-emission car sales make up nearly a third of all U.S. electric-car purchases, Bloomberg reported.
Sales of all other EVS increased by 35 percent in 2025’s first quarter, the California New Car Dealers Association said in its quarterly report. As for Tesla, it sold 42,322 cars in the state throughout Q1, many of which were the Model Y and the Model 3. That duo tops the list of the best-selling EVs in California, with Honda’s Prologue and Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 sitting at No. 3 (4,493 models sold) and No. 4 (3,762 models), respectively. The Cybertruck, meanwhile, takes eighth place in Q1 sales, with 2,282 models registered during the first three months of the year.
“An aging product lineup and backlash against Elon Musk’s political initiatives are likely key factors for the decline in Tesla BEV market share,” the California New Car Dealers Association said in its findings.
Tesla also has experienced some manufacturing issues in Q1. The company was in the process of redesigning the Model Y (its best-selling EV), so it built in time to change over production lines in its car-assembly plants across the world, according to Bloomberg.
The auto industry has been in a tizzy in the wake of President Trump’s tariffs, which add a 25 percent levy to imported vehicles. As a result, many U.S. buyers have been clamoring to buy new cars before the tariffs hit the scene this month. All of Tesla’s models sold in the U.S. are built in either California or Texas, but the company also imports some parts that could be impacted by higher tariffs later this spring, Bloomberg reported.
Worldwide, Tesla deliveries fell to their lowest since mid-2022 in Q1. This comes after the company’s sales fell for the first time ever last year, due to more competition in the EV space and a slowing demand for Tesla’s electric cars.
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Credit: robbreport.com
