Tesla market share in US falls to lowest since 2017

SAN FRANCISCO: Tesla’s US market share dropped to a near eight-year low in August as buyers chose electric vehicles from a growing stable of rivals over the aging lineup offered by CEO Elon Musk’s company, according to data from research firm Cox Automotive shared exclusively with Reuters.

The decline highlights the threat from automakers ramping up EV incentives at a difficult time for the industry. Analysts expect an EV sales bump to continue through September in the US, then drop when federal tax credits expire at the end of the month, raising financial pressure on Tesla and other automakers.

Tesla, which once held more than 80 per cent of the US EV market, accounted for 38 per cent of the total EV sales in the US in August, the first time it has fallen below the 40 per cent mark since October 2017, when it was ramping up production of the Model 3, its first mass market car, according to early data.

While other automakers are rolling out new EVs, Tesla has turned its focus to building robotaxis and humanoid robots.Much of Tesla’s trillion-dollar valuation hangs on

that bet.