California Love Fadin' For Tesla? EV Giant's Registrations Plummet As Rivian, Mercedes And BMW Gain Ground

EV giant Tesla Inc‘s TSLA popularity in California is spiraling down as per new data from the California New Car Dealers Association (CNCDA).

What Happened: Tesla registrations in California fell 8% in the first quarter from a year earlier to 50,025 units, marking a second consecutive quarterly drop in the state.

Overall BEV registrations in California, however, rose 2.8% to 90,296 units in the period, marked by an increase in registrations for luxury EV makers including Audi, BMW, Cadillac, and Mercedes. California-based Rivian Automotive‘s registrations also rose 87% to 3,167 units.

The Model Y, however, continues to retain the spot of the best-selling EV in the state, followed by the Model 3 and the more premium Model X SUV.

The state’s BEV market share dipped to 20.9% from 21.5% as of the end of 2023, as customers opted for more combustion engine and hybrid vehicles. Within the BEV market, Tesla’s share dipped to 55.4% from 61.8% a year earlier.

“As Tesla's dominance wanes, traditional manufacturers are stepping up to the plate, offering new plug-in hybrid (PHEV), hybrid, and battery electric vehicle (BEV) models,” the association noted.

Why It Matters: Tesla’s deliveries across the globe dipped 8.5% year-on-year in the first quarter with 386,810 vehicles delivered across the world, marking the first time Tesla has reported a drop in quarterly deliveries in about four years since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

For the overall year, however, company CEO Elon Musk expects higher sales than in 2023 when it sold 1.8 million vehicles.

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