Tesla US registrations dip 11% in January, the latest sign of demand weakness and consumer backlash

The latest data out of the US shows Tesla (TSLA)sales slipping here too, following drops in regions like Europe and China.

S&P Global Mobility reports registrations for Tesla vehicles in the US dipped to 43,411 in January, an 11% dip compared to a year ago. Though Tesla retained the top spot in terms of US market share at 42.5%, it represented a whopping drop of 12 percentage points from a year ago. Automotive News first published the S&P data.

Tesla does not report sales data by month or region, so registration data is seen as the best measure of sales. Meanwhile, total EV registrations climbed 14% to 102,188 EVs in the US in January, with brands like Ford (F) seeing EV sales climb 14% (8,366 units) and Chevrolet (GM) up 36% (5,935 units).

Despite the news, Tesla stock was up 6% in early trade on Wednesday, with the overall tech sector seeing a boost due to moderating CPI data. The recent pop in Tesla shares follows an over 40% drop year to date.

The US sales data follows weakness in Europe, where sales dropped a precipitous 45% in January, and a 49% plunge in China during February, where new EV competition and backlash to Musk’s political activities may be hurting sales both here and abroad.

Looking across Tesla’s product lines, registrations of the Model Y crossover — the No. 1 EV in the US (and the top-selling vehicle in the world last year) — fell 26% in January compared to a year ago at 23,898 units. Part of the reason for the decline: The Model Y product changeover occurring at Tesla’s factories; the new Model Y is now on sale.

Model 3 saw sales jump 19% compared to January with 14,004 registrations, which coincided with the launch of the updated Model 3 early last year. But Tesla’s more premium vehicles, the Model X and Model S, saw sales plunge in January, down 45% and 38%, respectively.

The polarizing Cybertruck — which saw price cuts, lease deals, and production cuts in 2024 — notched 2,807 registrations in January, compared to its average of around 3,300 units per month.

Tesla’s two-day Wall Street rebound comes after the stock suffered its worst day in nearly five years on Monday. At an event on Tuesday at the White House, President Trump said he would purchase a Tesla Model S and hoped his purchase would help boost Tesla EV sales.

Nevertheless, Wall Street analysts have been engaged in a tug-of-war over what’s next for Tesla. Evercore was the latest to cut its 2025 delivery forecast for the company, taking it down to 1.75 million units from 1.875 million, with concern the number could drop below 1.7 million — with the bank claiming Tesla was facing brand and volume “destruction.” UBS also cut its Tesla delivery total to 1.7 million earlier this week.

Musk’s political activities were seen as a reason behind Tesla’s brand erosion. Musk, as head of the White House’s controversial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative, has seen his standing slide among Americans while protests have gained steam at Tesla showrooms in the US. Musk’s meddling in German and UK politics by supporting far-right parties has also hurt his standing those regions.

On the flipside, Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas acknowledged on Tuesday that sales were hurting, but the bigger bet on the company’s autonomous and “embodied AI” ambitions made shares attractive at these values. Jonas said he believed “upside” catalysts like the “unveil” of Robotaxi testing this year in Austin, Texas, likely looser federal rules on autonomous vehicle regulation, an update on Optimus robots, and auto-related technological “milestones” will come this year. All good news for the stock, according to Jonas.

CFRA’s Garrett Nelson also reiterated his Tesla Buy rating on Tuesday.

“In our view, the shares are largely discounting expectations for near-term negative sales impacts, but we think TSLA is well positioned to weather the consumer backlash with its $36B+ of cash, industry-leading gross margins, and lesser exposure to tariffs relative to other automakers,” he wrote in a note to clients.

Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on X and on Instagram.

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