A Tesla car dealer stands in Manhattan, New York City, June 5, 2025.
Spencer Pratt | Getty Images
Tesla released its vehicle deliveries and production report for the first quarter of 2026, showing signs of recovery from annual declines over the past two years.
The important numbers are:
Total vehicle deliveries in the first quarter: 358,023 units Total vehicle production in the first quarter: 408,386 units
Analysts had expected deliveries to be 370,000, according to Street Account estimates, but Tesla’s internal consensus on March 26 said the average number of deliveries in the first quarter was 365,645.
In the same period last year, Tesla delivered 336,681 vehicles, a 13% decrease compared to the first quarter of 2024. Tesla’s total vehicle deliveries in 2025 decreased from 1.79 million in 2024 to 1.64 million.
Tesla’s entry-level Model 3 sedan and most popular Model Y SUV accounted for 341,893 units in the quarter, according to Tesla’s latest report. Deliveries are the closest thing to sales reported by Elon Musk’s EV maker, but they are not precisely defined in the company’s shareholder communications.
Mr. Musk has refocused production on the CyberCab and Optimus humanoid robots, but Tesla has not yet sold those products and still relies on car sales for most of its revenue. Tesla announced in January that it would end production of its flagship Model S and Model X vehicles and use its Fremont, Calif., assembly line to make Optimus robots.
For Tesla, S and X have been in decline for a long time. 3 and Y accounted for 97% of the company’s deliveries last year.
Musk said in a post on his social network X on Wednesday that orders for S and “There will be an official ceremony marking the end of an era. I love those cars,” he added.
Tesla’s angular steel Cybertruck, which it began delivering to customers in late 2023, has not been a mainstream success. Tesla is poised to ramp up deliveries of its all-electric Semi, a Class 8 truck with a promised 500-mile range in 2026.
In its energy business, Tesla announced that it installed 8.8 gigawatt hours of battery energy storage systems in the first quarter of 2025, following a record of 14.2 gigawatt hours in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Tesla’s battery energy storage products include Powerwall backup batteries for homes and larger Megapack and Megablock systems used in parallel with data centers and utilities.
Tesla shares fell 15% in the first quarter, continuing a trend that began two years ago. Stock prices plummeted from January to March in 2024 and 2025, but rose every other quarter and ended the year on a high.
Tesla’s 2025 car sales slump was due to increased competition around the world and consumer backlash against Mr. Musk’s politics. In addition to his financial support for President Donald Trump and his work in Trump’s second administration, Musk has supported groups such as Germany’s anti-immigration extremist party AfD and British anti-Muslim activist Tommy Robinson.
Tesla and the overall U.S. EV market were also hurt when the $7,500 federal incentive for new EV purchases ended in September.
However, sales of used electric vehicles have increased since the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran in late February, sparking a conflict that sent oil prices soaring.
Iran retaliated by targeting ships attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
When Tesla holds its first-quarter earnings conference on April 22 at 5:30 p.m. ET, the focus will likely be on auto gross margins and supply chain disruptions.
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