Electric vehicle (EV) maker Tesla has reported a catastrophic slump in New Zealand automotive sales revenue, which plummeted 69 per cent to $107.2 million in 2024 from $342 million in 2023.
Total NZ revenue collapsed to $149.5 million from $373.6 million, with net profit nosediving 84 per cent to just $457,120 from $2.78 million the previous year.
Energy generation and storage revenue offered a bright spot, growing to $19.1 million from $16.8 million, while services revenue remained relatively stable at $13 million compared to $13.7 million.
Regulatory credits were up from $1.1 million in 2023, to $10.1 million, while total company assets grew to $140.2 million from $103.9 million, and inventory rose to $35.3 million from $25.5 million.
Business might not improve this year either. Tesla has been caught in the fallout from its chief executive Elon Musk's political activities for the Trump administration, in particular the controversial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and support for far right political parties.
The company's chief financial officer told Reuters that Tesla had felt the impact of vandalism and what he called "unwarranted hostility" towards the brand and company employees, in certain markets.
For the first quarter of its financial year, Tesla worldwide saw a 20 per cent revenue drop, and a whopping 71 per cent fall in profits. In Europe, Tesla sales have recently seen similar double-digit drops in key markets, despite EV sales rising substantially in the region.
Locally, Tesla has also had to contend with the elimination of the Clean Car Discount (CCD) and the introduction of Road User Charges for electric vehicles, which created significant headwinds for all EV manufacturers throughout 2024.
Chinese brands such as BYD are also overtaking Tesla; for April this year, Geely-owned Polestar sold the most EVs in NZ, with its model 2 reaching 94 units in total. BYD sold 86 EVs in total, split among three models. Tesla's Model Y was third placed in the market, with 34 vehicles sold.
New Zealand's EV market remains sluggish however, New Zealand Transport Agency data suggests. Worldwide, research from Rho Motion suggests 1.7 million EVs were sold in March this year, up 29 per cent on the year before.
Removal of EV incentives for buyers in the US add to the uncertainty for Tesla in that market; President Trump's tariff trade war could hit Tesla hard in the Chinese market, as vehicles could almost double in price due to new, steep import duties.
Tesla New Zealand is structured as an unlimited company - ULC - which the Companies Office defines as:
The shareholders of an unlimited company have ultimate liability meaning they must pay any debts the company can’t pay. This liability is included in the company’s constitution.
Unlimited companies are used to meet very particular, often foreign, legal requirements.
Tesla Australia-New Zealand has been asked for comment on the results, and the story will be updated if and when it arrives.
18 Comments
Does anyone factor in the COVID backlog? I.e. fewer deliveries in 21-22 due to supply and manufacturing issues, and a large amount of backorders being delivered in 23?
...& the removal of the nz clean car subsidy, coupled with economic recession & the drop in oil prices
Yes, it'd be interesting to see Tesla sales vs other EV sales as there's been some big policy changes.
Or the possibility that a portion of EV’s are bought by people easily led by MSM?
Five couples we know bought EVs roughly three years ago. Three now wish they hadn’t, the other two are glad. Think the difference might be the latter don’t ever drive that far from home, that is out of town.
Sorry but that comment makes no sense. I drove from Auckland to Taupo a couple of weeks ago and arrived with 50% charge after leaving with 93%. Nothing special, just drove at the speed of other traffic the whole way. Comments about range anxiety these days come from people who haven’t properly tried them and just don’t know
Glad for you and your experience but Auckland to Taupo is hardly all of NZ is it.
It's around 275 km, give or take, by road. A fair distance to drive. Arriving there with 50% battery means you can go a lot further, particularly if you top up in Taupo.
Yes but remaining 50% charge means Auckland to Wellington with only one stop, and since this is more than I can say about my bladder battery range is no longer the issue.
There's also the Osborne effect that might be hitting Tesla sales, with an updated model of their best seller, the Model Y only just now being released to the market... so buyers may have been holding back waiting for the upgraded model.
Love mine. Don't ever again want to travel in a combustion vehicle.
Having to pay road user miles was the killer. Tax avoidance for the win or bust. Like other stuff....
Would anyone buy one now after Musks antics? The brand is tarnished.
Should be plenty of cheap BYDs coming our way. Probably a better vehicle.
His recent action or not has nothing to do with the technical achievement of the cars as they stand. But as some purchased because of him, some will now not do so.
Swasticars 🤦
This recent research won't have much to do with the decrease in Tesla sales. Obviously the demand for EV’s is beyond just those wanting to ‘save the world’. However the article is interesting.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) attributes observed climate variability primarily to anthropogenic CO₂ emissions, asserting that these emissions have driven approximately 1 Wm⁻² of net radiative forcing since 1750, resulting in a global temperature rise of 0.8-1.1°C. This conclusion relies heavily on adjusted datasets and outputs from global climate models (GCMs) within the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) framework. However, this study conducts a rigorous evaluation of these assertions by juxtaposing them against unadjusted observational data and synthesizing findings from recent peer-reviewed literature. Our analysis reveals that human CO₂ emissions, constituting a mere 4% of the annual carbon cycle, are dwarfed by natural fluxes, with isotopic signatures and residence time data indicating negligible long-term atmospheric retention.
Moreover, individual CMIP3 (2005-2006), CMIP5 (2010-2014), and CMIP6 (2013-2016) model runs consistently fail to replicate observed temperature trajectories and sea ice extent trends, exhibiting correlations (R²) near zero when compared to unadjusted records. A critical flaw emerges in the IPCC’s reliance on a single, low-variability Total Solar Irradiance (TSI) reconstruction, despite the existence of 27 viable alternatives, where higher-variability options align closely with observed warming—itself exaggerated by data adjustments.
...
What you find when you are supposed to be doing your gst.
For any followers of Ron Paul...
https://ronpaulinstitute.org/the-empire-strikes-back/
News this week that Elon Musk will soon be departing his “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) is a grim reminder of what happens when you challenge big spending DC. Unfortunately, the lesson once again is that when you challenge the empire, the empire eventually strikes back.
Like most things, I'd guess no single cause for sluggish EV sales in general and Tesla's plunge in particular.
What springs to mind are: Elon's antics, high purchase price, running costs now RUCs are being paid, better value products constantly coming in to the market, COVID effects, our economic slowdown, working from home reducing car need, our sparse public charger network, that EV's are not typically particularly interesting or engaging to drive, and that a lot of the products don't really meet local consumer needs or aspirations.
On that last, I'm interested to see how the BYD Shark PHEV goes in the market, considering we seem to be a country that buys an large number of utes.
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