Tesla shares moved lower in early Wednesday trading after the carmaker posted a weaker-than-expected tally of first quarter deliveries amid slumping EV sales and coordinated protests tied to Elon Musk's political role in the White House.

Tesla's first-quarter sales slumped 13%, its weakest performance in nearly three years, as backlash to CEO Elon Musk's embrace of far-right politics grows and as consumers seek out newer models from rival electric-vehicle makers.

Amid growing fallout over Elon Musk’s involvement in the Trump administration, Tesla’s sales fell a staggering 13 percent in the first quarter of 2025 year over year.

Tesla said it lost several weeks of production as it switched over its four global factories over to a freshened version of the Model Y crossover.

Tesla's EV deliveries fell 13% to 336,700 vehicles over Q1 of last year, far fewer than arch-rival BYD, as CEO Elon Musk's crisis deepens.

Tesla delivered 336,681 vehicles in Q1 2025, down 13 percent from last year. Production slumped to 362,615 vehicles, with Model 3 and Y making up the bulk. Global backlash fueled by Elon Musk’s politics may have significantly hurt its sales.

Tesla vehicle insurance registrations in China soared sequentially in the last week of the first quarter, marking the company's highest weekly total of 2025. Meanwhile, the EV giant reports global Q1 vehicle delivery data Wednesday with analysts expecting the lowest delivery total since Q3 2022.

Why It's Important: Tesla reported first-quarter deliveries of 386,810 last year. The electric vehicle company is likely to come under that figure to start 2025 and below analyst estimates, which could be in part due to the political push by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.