Tesla stock tumbles as European registrations hit a low

Tesla (TSLA) shares are trading lower Wednesday as the electric vehicle giant faces a new headwind in its European operations. The automaker's vehicle registrations in the region have plummeted to their lowest level since January 2023 with 13,951 units registered in April 2024, according to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association. This reflects a 2.3% year-over-year decline.

Yahoo Finance's Seana Smith and Madison Mills break down the details, providing insights into the broader electric vehicle market.

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This post was written by Angel Smith

Video Transcript

More bad news for Tesla.

The car maker registering only about 14,000 just shy of that number of vehicles in Europe last month.

That is according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association and that is down 2.3% year over year.

This is Tesla's worst monthly showing in Europe since January of 2023.

So that is a 15 month low in a slow start to the quarter in Europe, Elon Musk saying that things are expected to pick up and you two obviously he's going to say that but under 14,000 vehicles is really low, particularly when you look at the context here, Shana because overall we saw a 14% rise in the month battery EVs.

So it's looking like it's an idiosyncratic issue specific to Tesla, which is a really negative signal for the brand in terms of sales.

Yeah, I think that's so critical to point out it's also very similar to what we're seeing play out over in China when you take a look at falling sales there in Shanghai.

Whereas if you it's a bit of a contrast to what is happening with the broader ev industry there.

And going back to what Musk had said on the earnings call just last month.

He was trying to reassure investors right now saying that yes, there have been some issues when you talk about the Red Sea disruptions.

When you talk about the fires that played out at one of its plants in Germany, that that was largely going to be in the past.

And he thinks that demand will then return sales are going to get a boost.

So when you get updates like this, obviously, that's in contrast to what we heard from Musk, not too long ago, it's also important to point out that there has been some changes, some dialing back of subsidies, subsidies in Europe, specifically what is going on in Sweden and in Germany.

So that of course, probably weighing on sales just a bed and that would be more overall for the industry, not so much Tesla specific, but I think this is a trend worth watching, right?

When you take into account, what is happening overseas, when even when you take into account, what is happening here, you have consumers under a bit of pressure pulling back on those larger ticket items here, those big discretionary purchases EVs the pick up and EVs the adoption rate not nearly as it is still growing, obviously, but not nearly at the rates that the had initially forecasted.

So it looks like it could be maybe a little bit longer in order for Tesla and some of its other peers within the industry to regain some of that lost momentum that we have seen.

But yes, especially what's going on over in Europe and even in China, it seems to be more of a Tesla specific problem rather than an industry wide problem.

Yeah, you mentioned Germany those registrations down 32% for Tesla, the rest of the industry looking flat there.