Tesla deliveries fall—especially for high-end Model S and X

Enlarge / Elon Musk. (credit: Robyn Beck-Pool/Getty Images)

Tesla delivered 63,000 vehicles to customers in the first quarter of 2019, the company announced on Wednesday evening. That’s a dramatic 31 percent decline from the previous quarter, when Tesla delivered 90,700 vehicles.

Analysts have been expecting that Tesla would announce a quarter-to-quarter decline in deliveries, but this drop exceeded Wall Street’s expectations. Wall Street analysts were expecting Tesla to deliver around 75,000 cars.

Analysts expected Tesla to have a down quarter because the US tax credit for buying a Tesla was scheduled to fall from $7,500 to $3,750 on January 1. So Americans thinking about buying a Tesla late last year made sure take delivery by December 31, causing US demand to dry up in January.