By Abhirup Roy
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Tesla's U.S. sales dropped to a near three-year low in November, despite the automaker's rollout of new, cheaper versions of its best-selling electric vehicles, estimates from Cox Automotive given exclusively to Reuters showed on Thursday.
Making a success of the more affordable variants, called Standard, is important for Tesla and a test of its strategy for how to keep selling cars and bring in revenue as it transitions to making robotaxis and building
humanoid robots, which are the core reasons investors value the company at $1.4 trillion.
EV sales have taken a hit broadly since the end of September when the Trump administration ended $7,500 federal tax credits. To combat the fall in demand, Tesla in October launched stripped-down versions of its Model Y SUV and Model 3 compact sedan, priced about $5,000 below the previous base models.
Demand for Standard versions was expected to support sales in November, but the company's total sales fell nearly 23% to 39,800 vehicles from 51,513 a year earlier and were the lowest since January 2022, according to the data from Cox, which tracks sales across the industry.
"The drop certainly shows there is not enough demand for the Standard variants that were supposed to boost sales after the tax credit expiry," Stephanie Valdez Streaty, Cox's director of industry insights, said in an interview with Reuters. "What’s also happening is Standard sales are cannibalizing into sales of Premium versions, especially the Model 3."
The end of credits hit many EV rivals harder. Overall U.S. EV sales fell more than 41% in November and Tesla's market share rose to 56.7% from 43.1%, the data showed.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the sales figures.
DEMAND ISSUE
After years of soaring sales, Tesla deliveries fell for the first time last year amid high borrowing costs that soured consumer sentiment and rising competition, especially in Europe and China, with new and cheaper models from other automakers.
Deliveries this year are expected to drop again. Tesla has not introduced a completely new vehicle since its Cybertruck pickup, which has struggled to find buyers, and the rest of its lineup is older models with minor refreshes.
"Tesla has a serious challenge on its hands next year when several other automakers are planning to roll out cheaper vehicles that are also full of fun features," Cox's Streaty said. "So the answer is that Tesla needs a completely new vehicle in its fleet. Period.”
In addition, CEO Elon Musk's work for U.S. President Donald Trump and far-right political rhetoric sparked protests and hurt Tesla's brand image.
Tesla is offering financing deals as low as 0% on the Standard Model Y, its U.S. website showed this week. While such deals during the holiday season are common, analysts and investors said the offer on a variant that started deliveries just over a month ago is a sign of weak demand.
"I think the bottom line is, if the demand was there they wouldn't be offering 0% financing," said Shawn Campbell, an adviser at Camelthorn Investments. "The solution for the demand issue ultimately needs to be new, fresh models."
(Reporting by Abhirup Roy in San Francisco; Editing by Peter Henderson and Matthew Lewis)
