SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 8 (Reuters): Tesla's US market share dropped to a near eight-year low in August as buyers chose electric vehicles from a growing stable of rivals over the aging lineup offered by CEO Elon Musk's company, according to data from research firm Cox Automotive shared exclusively with Reuters.
The decline highlights the threat from automakers ramping up EV incentives at a difficult time for the industry. Analysts expect an EV sales bump to continue through September in the United States, then drop when federal tax credits expire at the end of the month, raising financial pressure on Tesla and other automakers.
Tesla, which once held more than 80 per cent of the US EV market, accounted for 38 per cent of the total EV sales in the United States in August, the first time it has fallen below the 40 per cent mark since October 2017, when it was ramping up production of the Model 3, its first mass market car, according to early data from Cox.
While other automakers are rolling out new EVs, Tesla has turned its focus to building robotaxis and humanoid robots, delaying and cancelling plans for cheaper electric vehicle models.
Much of Tesla's trillion-dollar valuation hangs on that bet. The company's board on Friday proposed an unprecedented $1 trillion pay package for Musk that, apart from other operational milestones, is pegged to Tesla's value rising to $8.5 trillion over the next decade.
For now, Tesla's core auto business remains its money maker. Its last new model was the Cybertruck pickup that rolled out in 2023 with nothing of the success of its Model 3 midsize sedan or Model Y midsize SUV. Tesla has refreshed the Model Y, once the world's best-selling car, but the changes failed to live up to expectations, and Tesla is on track toward a second year of sales decline.
"I know they're positioning themselves as a robotics, AI company. But when you're a car company, when you don't have new products, your share will start to decline," Stephanie Valdez Streaty, Cox's director of industry insights, said in an interview with Reuters.
