11:16 AM EDT, 04/02/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Tesla (TSLA) on Wednesday posted sharp declines in first-quarter deliveries year over year and sequentially, missing Wall Street's estimates, as the electric vehicle maker faces demand weakness in its key markets.

Tesla delivered 336,681 vehicles in the March quarter, down from 386,810 units delivered in the same period a year ago and 495,570 in the fourth quarter.

Wedbush Securities put the Street's estimate at 352,000 units, while DA Davidson cited a 378,000 consensus view in its report.

Shares of Tesla fell 1.1% in Wednesday trading.

"While the changeover of Model Y lines across all four of our factories led to the loss of several weeks of production in (the first quarter), the ramp of the new Model Y continues to go well," Tesla said in a statement.

Bloomberg News reported in January that the electric vehicle maker planned to temporarily shutdown part of the lines manufacturing the upgraded version of Tesla's Model Y sport utility vehicle in Shanghai.

Demand for the company's vehicles is under "major pressure" in Europe, with softness in the US and China as well, Wedbush said in a client note.

"This delivery number was a disaster for the bulls with continuous negativity around the (Tesla) brand," Wedbush analysts led by Daniel Ives wrote. "The Street and us knew a bad (first quarter) was coming but this was even worse than expected."

Tesla is also facing "brand crisis" issues, including protests at the company's dealerships and "violence" against its car drivers in the US and Europe, Ives said.

A YouGov poll showed that consumers' impression of Tesla fell to a score of minus 12.7%, compared with an average rise of about 17% for other car makers, according to an Oppenheimer report last month. At the time, the brokerage reduced Tesla's 2025 delivery estimate by 30,000 units, citing the company's declining favorability among consumers amid Chief Executive Elon Musk's involvement in politics.

Last week, RBC Capital Markets said Tesla was poised to report March-quarter deliveries below Wall Street's estimates amid pronounced weakness in China and Europe. The brokerage at the time said it estimated the company to report 364,372 deliveries for the quarter.

Tesla's first-quarter production fell to 362,615 vehicles from 433,371 units the year earlier and 459,445 in the December quarter.

Separately, Rivian (RIVN) on Wednesday said it delivered 8,640 units in the three months through March, down from 13,588 a year earlier. The company affirmed its 2025 delivery guidance range of 46,000 to 51,000 vehicles.

While Rivian's numbers for the first quarter were "largely in-line with prior commentary/Street estimates, the shares and sector more broadly could see headwinds today from Tesla's missed (first-quarter) deliveries," Truist Securities said in a note.

Price: 265.90, Change: -2.56, Percent Change: -0.95