Shares of the automaker dropped as much as 5% to an intraday low of $252.45 before paring losses. Tesla was among the biggest market losers in the first quarter amid weak sales data, rising competition, and frustration with CEO Elon Musk and his work slashing the budget of the federal government.The firm delivered 336,000 total cars for the quarter versus estimates of 390,300 deliveries, citing weeks of lost production to factory line changes ahead of the new Model Y. That’s 13% lower than the same period last year. There’s also new data to suggest that Tesla’s business in China is under increasing pressure. Domestic competitor BYD sold 371,419 vehicles in March, pushing sales up 58% from the same period a year ago, though not all of these were necessarily EVs. Is China taking over the EV market?
