Tesla Sales Rebound In Q1 2026, But Fall Short Of Analyst Estimates

The first quarter of last year wasn’t a high bar to begin with.

2026 Tesla Model Y Standard

Photo by: Andrei Nedelea

Suvrat Kothari

By: Suvrat Kothari

Apr 2, at 10:29am ET

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Tesla sales nudged slightly higher in the first quarter of this year.
Energy storage deployments dropped during the same period.
The automaker is still the undisputed U.S. EV sales leader.

Tesla posted a slight gain in first-quarter electric vehicle sales, but still missed the analyst estimates it had published on its own investor relations website.

The automaker delivered 358,023 vehicles in Q1, a 6.3% increase over the same period last year, while producing 408,386 units, nearly 13% more year over year. The Model 3 and Model Y accounted for 341,893 of those deliveries. The "other models" category, which includes the Cybertruck and the now-discontinued Model S and Model X, made up the remaining 16,130 units.

That delivery figure fell short of Wall Street's expectations of 365,645 vehicles. Energy storage deployments also slipped, dropping to 8.8 gigawatt-hours from 10.4 GWh in the year-ago quarter.

2026 Tesla Model S and Model X

Photo by: Tesla

But sales results from Q1 2025 were a low bar to begin with. That quarter was Tesla's worst in over two years. The company was still ramping up production of the refreshed Model Y, and CEO Elon Musk was helming the controversial Department of Government Efficiency, which had ignited nationwide "Tesla Takedown" protests.

All said, Tesla remains the undisputed U.S. EV sales leader by a massive margin. General Motors, the second-best-selling EV maker in the country, delivered 25,900 electric vehicles in Q1, less than one-tenth of Tesla's total.

But rivals are quickly catching up. The revived Chevy Bolt and the new Nissan Leaf are now the cheapest EVs in America, offering better value than the Model 3 and Model Y with improved range, software, and charging speeds. Tesla's premium European rivals, the BMW iX3, Volvo EX60, and Mercedes-Benz GLC EV, have also caught up in meaningful ways, with longer range, faster charging, and next-generation software.

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Tesla, meanwhile, has yet to officially announce any new models. Although Musk has hinted at a new vehicle that’s “way cooler than a minivan.” If Tesla continues to have a stale model line-up, rivals might chip away at its lead in the coming months.

Contact the author: suvrat.kothari@insideevs.com