Tesla Vehicle Registrations In California Dropped By Half In Q2: Report

Tesla Inc TSLA car sales in California plunged by nearly a half in the quarter ending June, according to data released by marketing research company Cross-Sell on Wednesday.

What Happened

Vehicle registrations for the Elon Musk-led company fell nearly 48% to 9,774 units between April and June in the Golden State, compared with a similar period a year earlier, Cross-Sell said, as reported by Reuters. Registrations of Model 3, which is the cheapest vehicle in Tesla's lineup, fell 63% to 5,951 units. Total vehicle registrations fell across the 23 states, where the data was gathered, by approximately 49% to 18,702 vehicles. Registration data may not be a true representation of delivery numbers during the quarter as it takes almost 30 days for vehicles to be registered from the time they are sold in the United States, Reuters noted.

Why It Matters

The majority of the U.S. was under lockdown in the period between April to June to prevent the spread of COVID-19, which affected both production and auto sales in the country. Production at Tesla's Fremont factory, in California, was suspended between March and May due to the pandemic. Tesla revealed earlier this month it delivered 90,650 vehicles in the second quarter this year. The disclosure by the Palo Alto-based automaker indicates that it had restored production to levels as they existed before the shutdown.

Price Action

On Wednesday, Tesla shares traded 2.26% lower at $1,511 in the after-hours. The shares had closed the regular session 1.93% higher at $1,546.01.