Tough times have arrived at Tesla. The car company led by billionaire Elon Musk “is planning to lay off about a tenth of its workforce,” The Associated Press said, following a year of falling sales and rising competition from rivals like China’s BYD. Tesla responded to the tighter market by cutting prices for some models by as much as $20,000, but that move “clipped Tesla’s profit margins.” The result? As many as 14,000 Tesla employees will lose their jobs.
That might not come as a surprise: Tesla has long been the king of the electric vehicle market, and EV sales are famously slowing down. But Musk’s company has a bigger problem. “EV sales are slowing,” The New York Times said. “Tesla’s are slumping.” EV sales in America rose at a relatively anemic 2.6% from the first quarter a year ago; Tesla’s fell by 13%. Who is benefitting? Automakers like Ford, Hyundai, Mercedes and BMW have all increased their share of the EV market. It has been a quick fall for Tesla: The company’s market share “has fallen from 62% at the start of 2023 to 51% now.”
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