Carmaker Tesla saw revenue tumble at its Irish subsidiary last year, with the electric vehicle (EV) maker blaming falling demand for its Model Y cars.
Telsa Motors Ireland Ltd, which is controlled by Elon Musk, reported a near 19 per cent drop in turnover in 2024 as car deliveries fell by 11 per cent.
Profitability also fell, with pretax profit down nearly a quarter to €1.5 million from almost €2 million in 2023.
The fall in revenue and profit came amid a general slump in sales of EVs in Ireland and before protests internationally over Mr Musk’s increasingly political stance.
RM Block
The brand’s directors attributed the fall in revenue to falling deliveries “predominantly due to a decrease in sales of Model Y”.
The car brand’s revenue fell to €115.2 million in 2024 from €142 million in 2023. Costs of sales dropped relative to revenue – down 21.6 per cent. However, increased administrative expenses – up nearly 40 per cent – hit the company’s bottom line.
The company has an accumulated profit in excess of €5 million, but did not pay a dividend to shareholders. Employee costs at the company rose to €4.17 million from €2.47 million the previous year as its headcount rose from 38 to 59 people. The company accounted for restructuring costs of €168,000 in the financial year.
Vehicle registration figures from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (Simi) show that, having hit a high of 22,800 sales in 2023, demand for EVs fell 23.6 per cent last year to 17,459.
EV sales have rebounded this year, topping diesel sales for the first time, but Tesla has not benefited. Sales of the brand fell 10.46 per cent in the first eight months of the year at a time when EV sales generally jumped by 36.23 per cent.
The growth in demand for EVs compares to a general increase of just 3.3 per cent in car sales. The Tesla slump this year has seen it lose its market-leading position in EVs in the Irish market to Chinese rival, BYD.
Tesla’s challenging market in Ireland is reflected more widely across Europe and has been linked to Mr Musk’s political ties to US president Donald Trump, which saw the billionaire head Mr Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for a time.
