By Thomas Paulson, Head of Market Insights Reports of brand rejection of Tesla are shocking, “unprecedented” is also a relevant characterization. Germany was its largest market in Europe including a poll of 100,000 with 94,000 saying they wouldn’t buy the brand. This follows an estimated drop in sales of 76% in February. How is Tesla reacting to the decline, it hit the brakes hard in February as shown in the chart below; however, the “pressure on the brakes” doesn’t appear to be intensifying in March.

By Thomas Paulson, Head of Market Insights Production activity at Freemont, Austin, and Berlin has stepped meaningfully lower in February, accentuating the negative trend at year end. Clearly, Tesla’s sales and operations team are observing a slackening in demand, confirming industry and press reports, and cutting production to manage inventory levels down. Industry watchers Wards and Motor Intelligence peg deliveries at flat in the US through February (they should have been up due to an easy comparison); related research from Goldman Sachs shows deep declines in purchase intent for Tesla vs the Detroit-3.