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Tesla Sales Up as Buyers Race to Use Tax Credit

The company faced a steep decline in the first half of 2025.

Elon Musk’s break-up with President Donald Trump may finally be paying off for Tesla. The company is reporting its first sales growth of the year, and Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill may be partially responsible. Tesla reported an unexpectedly successful third quarter as buyers rushed to secure their electric vehicles before a Biden-era $7,500 federal tax credit, which Trump slashed in his megabill, expired at the end of September. Tesla reported a 7.4 percent sales increase compared to last year, breaking its own record for vehicle deliveries and outpacing analysts’ growth predictions by more than 40,000 sales. These results are a stark turnaround from the first half of the year, when Tesla’s profits plummeted amid its CEO’s very public falling out with the president. After the company experienced its worst first-quarter sales since 2022, Musk warned shareholders in July that Tesla was in a “weird transition period” and “probably could have a few rough quarters.” In the second quarter of 2025, Tesla reported a 13 percent drop in vehicle deliveries compared to its 2024 rate. However, the third-quarter growth may be temporary: buyers had an extra incentive to rush their electric vehicle purchases before the tax credit expired in September, but that may not translate into sustained growth.

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Paulina RodriguezBreaking News Intern

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