Tesla’s gross sales fell in the fourth quarter of 2025, as rising competitors and the expiration of the federal EV tax credit score continued to sap the corporate’s international ambitions. The gross sales drop has led to Tesla shedding its title because the world’s best-selling EV maker to China’s BYD, which bought 2.26 million automobiles final 12 months.
The disappointing gross sales report raises the query whether or not Tesla can reverse its downward fortune and obtain its objectives of deploying self-driving automobiles and humanoid robots, each of which have buoyed the corporate’s valuation for a few years.
Tesla reported delivering 418,227 automobiles within the fourth quarter, down 15.6 p.c in comparison with the identical three-month interval in 2024. The variety of deliveries got here in under the consensus quantity from Wall Road, which anticipated that Tesla would supply 422,850 automobiles. The corporate additionally stated it produced 434,358 automobiles throughout This fall 2025, a 5.8 p.c drop year-over-year. For a direct-to-consumer firm like Tesla, deliveries are a proxy for gross sales.
For the complete 12 months, Tesla bought 1,636,129 automobiles, the overwhelming majority of which had been Mannequin 3s and Mannequin Ys. That represents an 8.5 p.c drop in gross sales 12 months over 12 months, and the second year in a row during which Tesla recorded an annual gross sales drop. The corporate produced 1,654,667 automobiles in 2025, a 6.7 p.c decline 12 months over 12 months.
There’s additionally some proof that gross sales of the polarizing Tesla Cybertruck have completely flatlined. The corporate reported delivering solely 11,642 “different” automobiles in This fall, a class that features the Mannequin S, the Mannequin X, and the Cybertruck. That represents a whopping 50.7 p.c lower 12 months over 12 months. (Tesla doesn’t escape actual figures for every mannequin.)
The drop in gross sales was extensively anticipated, given the wild 12 months that Tesla simply skilled. Rising competitors within the US, Europe, and China from legacy automakers pushing new, cheaper EVs put a severe dent in Tesla’s demand. And Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s emergence as a divisive political determine, pushing racist right-wing conspiracies on his social media platform X and heading the controversial DOGE venture within the Trump administration to slash international humanitarian aide applications, has alienated many of Tesla’s traditionally liberal customers.
Musk himself has stated that the corporate is in for “a couple of tough quarters” because of the expiring incentive and different macroeconomic elements. However he believes that Tesla will rebound as its AI plans come to fruition, together with robotaxis and humanoid robots. Musk predicted that 50 percent of the US population will have access to Tesla’s robotaxis by the tip of 2025. To date, solely a handful of automobiles can be found in Austin and San Francisco to a restricted variety of clients.
The gross sales report comes on the heels of Musk successful approval from Tesla shareholders for a massive new pay package that would make him the world’s first trillionaire. Musk would want to fulfill a sequence of formidable milestones to obtain the compensation, together with producing over one million robots, one million robotaxis, and creating $7.5 trillion in worth for Tesla’s shareholders.
However these shifts are seemingly years away — if they arrive in any respect — leaving Tesla to battle within the present surroundings with an getting older lineup and a battered model picture. The corporate recently released cheaper versions of its top-selling Mannequin 3 and Mannequin Y, which was alleged to usher in a brand new period of demand for Tesla. However thus far, the newly reasonably priced automobiles have but to reverse the corporate’s downward slide.