Multiple Automotive Outlets Simultaneously Report on a Tesla “Sales Slump,” Just as Tesla Completes a Quarter With Record Sales - Is This Some Weird Conspiracy I’m Missing Out On?

Have you seen those social media posts that show all the newscasters using precisely the same language in their reports at exactly the same time? That happens when a group with an agenda issues what are called “talking points.” They are a form of propaganda intended to provide a specific view on a given subject, often false, misleading, or out of context. The idea is usually to cast a person, company, or group in a poor light by making it seem as if these incorrect talking points are true, since everyone is saying the same thing. This is currently happening to Tesla, which is very upsetting to me. Not because I am a big fan of Tesla, but because I don't like to miss out on a chance to report interesting news on Tesla truthfully. A sales slump by Tesla right now would be huge news - but it’s just not true.

Who Reported A Tesla Slump, and When?
Multiple automotive media groups have reported a “Tesla Sales Slump” all in the past few days. Here’s a quick List:
Jalopnik October 16 FB Post: “Tesla sales are slumping, the Cybertruck's a flop, and Elon Musk desperately deserves fifty-six billion American dollars.”
The Cool Down (TCD) October 13: “Tesla Suffers Massive Sales Slump Across Several Countries”
Yahoo Finance, October 12: “Tesla's sales slump hasn't just been limited to Europe. The company's performance has also been dragged down by a steep decline in the U.S. and Canada.”
The Motley Fool, October 8: “Does Tesla's Surprise Delivery Surge Mean Its Sales Slump Is Over?”

The Inconvenient Truth - Tesla Sales Are Up, Not Down
As you can see, a wide selection of outlets are casting Tesla’s sales as “in a slump.” We looked over the samples we provided. These all seemed to cast Tesla as in a general slump, not simply in one single market, or for one single model. Certainly, Tesla is experiencing fluctuations in some markets. Almost all automakers experience this issue, and it occurs virtually every quarter. The Cybertruck, like all battery-electric pickup trucks, is an abject failure. These outlets didn’t mean that. They wanted to provide readers or viewers with the impression that “Tesla is in a slump.” Let’s look at the facts as we know them.

The third quarter has just ended, and automakers, including Tesla, have self-reported their sales. And guess what, they are up. Not down. Don't worry, we have a second source too. 

Tesla’s Q3 was the best in the company’s history, and it wasn’t even close. With 497,099 deliveries, Tesla broke its prior Q3 record by about 7%. That is a solid growth curve, despite pressure from Chinese automakers who are basically giving electric cars away in some markets, a strong push by GM, Ford, and Hyundai/Kia/Genesis, and, to a lesser degree, supply chain challenges related to the Made in America push by the Trump administration. One reason for Tesla’s strong quarter was the end of Federal EV tax incentives in America. But that was not the only reason deliveries were up. Tesla also refreshed both of its top sellers and added a fifth model over the past year. Here are Tesla’s prior Q3 deliveries in order:
2025 (Current) 497K
2024 463K 
2023 435K
2022 343K
2021 241K

Here's another Tesla delivery fact: Tesla has increased its sales every quarter of 2025, with Q2 being larger than Q1, and Q3 being larger than Q2. Tesla's sales have been trending up all year. How is an increase a “slump?”

Let’s look closely at what Yahoo Finance said in a story credited to Matthew Swigonski on October 12th, which was well after the Tesla delivery information was widely available. Yahoo published, “Tesla's sales slump hasn't just been limited to Europe. A steep decline in the U.S. and Canada has also dragged down the company's performance.”  The fact is, Tesla’s sales in the US were way up in Q3. Cox Automotive released data on October 10th (before Yahoo’s story) showing that Tesla delivered 179,525 vehicles in America in Q3, up from 166,923 in Q3 of 2024. A 7.5% increase in sales is not a slump. And for the year to date, Tesla's year-to-date sales are within 4% of 2024, a year in which Tesla had a lot less competitive headwind, and in which the federal government was heavily subsidizing and virtually mandating EVs. 

The Cool Down’s report, credited to Catherine Wilkins, is the most confusing. Its headline is “Tesla Suffers Massive Sales Slump Across Several Countries.” How can a massive slump in many countries be the big story when a company is seeing a global surge in deliveries of 7.5%? It certainly seems inappropriate to label a global increase as a “Massive Slump Across Several Countries.”  

Most of my reporting on Tesla over the past two decades would likely be looked upon by a Tesla fan as “negative.” However, I like to start with facts. If the story is negative, let the chips fall where they may, but casting Tesla’s current sales increase as a slump seems off to me. And the fact that so many publications used the same exact term in the same two-week period in the face of open source, easy-to-access data showing the opposite is true does not pass the sniff test.

What do you make of this reporting? Does it seem odd to you that so many publications made the same seemingly false claim all at once? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below. 
 

Source Links:

Tesla Delivery Report Q3, October 2, 2025

Cox Automotive EV Delivery Data Report, October 10, 2025. 

John Goreham is the Vice President of the New England Motor Press Association and an expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE int). In addition to his fourteen years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can connect with John on LinkedIn and follow his work on his personal X channel or on our X channel. Please note that stories carrying John's by-line are never AI-generated, but he does employ grammar and punctuation software when proofreading and he also uses image generation tools. 

Top of Page image by John Goreham. Second image courtesy of Facebook.