Tesla Stock Slides After Delivery Figures Signal Weaker U.S. Demand

Tesla delivered fewer vehicles than expected in the first quarter, the company said Wednesday, with deliveries falling 31 percent to 63,000 vehicles from the fourth quarter of 2018.

The electric-car maker, led by Elon Musk, said the lower-than-expected delivery volume and several pricing adjustments would hurt its first-quarter net income. The company previously said it would lose money in the first quarter.

The company’s shares slid as much as 8 percent in early trading on Thursday.

The price cuts were aimed at making Tesla cars affordable to a wider range of customers. The cost to consumers was essentially increased on Jan. 1 when a federal tax credit available to buyers of electric vehicles was cut in half, to $3,750, as part of a scheduled phaseout of the incentive. The credit will drop to $1,875 after July 1 and end next Jan. 1.

The drop in deliveries appeared to reflect new weakness in demand in the United States, occurring even though Tesla began shipping cars in volume to Europe and China in the quarter. Deliveries of its Model 3 sedan, its most affordable car, totaled 50,900, 20 percent fewer than in the fourth quarter. Deliveries of its Model S and Model X luxury models fell 56 percent to 12,100 cars.

[Hints of the slump were evident in registration data.]

Tesla produced 77,100 vehicles in the quarter, down from 86,555 in the fourth quarter. It reiterated that it expected to deliver 360,000 to 400,000 cars this year, and said it had finished the quarter with “sufficient” cash on hand, without offering further details. Analysts have raised concerns about Tesla’s cash supply. It started the first quarter with $3.7 billion, but used nearly $1 billion to make a payment to bondholders last month.

Next month, Tesla hopes to begin volume deliveries of a $35,000 version of the Model 3, the car that many of the company’s fans have been waiting for. Analysts are uncertain whether Tesla can make money selling the Model 3 at that price, however.

In a Feb. 28 conference call, Mr. Musk said Tesla would close most of its stores around the country and rely on online sales as part of an effort to slash costs so it could sell the $35,000 car profitably. But 11 days later, Tesla reversed course and said it would keep many of the stores, and reopen some that had already closed. It also said it would increase prices on all its cars except the $35,000 version of the Model 3.

In the coming weeks, Tesla is expected to report a loss for the first quarter. The company was profitable in the final two quarters of 2018 as Model 3 sales rose.

There have been other challenges for the company, including a renewed legal battle between Mr. Musk and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The S.E.C. asked a federal court in February to hold Mr. Musk in contempt for violating a settlement that he and Tesla reached with the commission last year regarding scrutiny of his statements. In a motion to the court, the S.E.C. said Mr. Musk had not sought approval from company lawyers, as required by the agreement, before making a sales prediction on Twitter that varied from previous announcements. The court is expected to rule on Thursday.

In the tweet, which was posted Feb. 19, Mr. Musk said Tesla would make 500,000 cars this year, 100,000 more than the company had forecast in January. Tesla’s general counsel left the company two days later.

In response, Mr. Musk’s lawyers said the commission was overreaching based on comparable precedents. They contend that Mr. Musk was acting within his discretion in his Twitter posting, and that it contained no material information beyond what the company had previously stated in public.