Sales at the Irish unit of Elon Musk's Tesla Motors last year slumped by 18% to €115.2m amidst a downturn in sales in electric vehicle car sales here in 2024.
The €26.83m decline in revenues at Tesla Motors Ireland Ltd from €142.05m to €115.2m also coincided with an international backlash against the Tesla CEO for his support of US President, Donald Trump during the 2024 US Presidential campaign.
New accounts filed by Tesla Motors Ireland Ltd show that on the back of the sales drop, pre-tax profits declined by 25% from €1.98m to €1.48m.
During the US Presidential campaign, the billionaire's super political action committee (PAC) spent about $200m to help elect President Trump for a second time as President.
The car sales decline at Tesla Ireland also came against the background of a 24% reduction in the sale of EV sales here in 2024 compared to 2023.
The sales drop at Tesla Ireland is the first sales reversal since Tesla operating here and is in contrast to sales increasing by 104% from €69.73m to a record €142.05m in 2023.
The Nasdaq-quoted electric car maker opened its first Irish sales outlet and showroom in Sandyford in South Co Dublin in April 2017.
Figures provided by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) show that unit sales of Tesla cars last year decreased by 13% from 3,371 to 2,926.
The sales of EV cars have rebounded in Ireland in 2025 with SIMI statistics showing that EV sales have increased by 36% but the slump in TESLA sales has continued with sales down 10% year on year to the end of August.
In contrast, sales of Tesla rival, Chinese BYD models have increased here by 76% this year to date on 2023.
On the 2024 performance, the Tesla directors state that "the company's deliveries decreased over 11% in 2024 compared to 2023 predominantly due to a decrease in sales of Model Y resulting in a decline in revenue".
The directors state that as at December 31st 2024 the company had two service centres in Ireland and had 60 charge points in nine supercharger sites.
The directors state that "the company's own success remains dependent on overall success of the vehicles at a global level".
Currently, Tesla globally has a market capitalisation of $1.03 trillion.
Operating profits at the Irish unit last year decreased by 19% from €2.12m to €1.72m and interest costs of €242,899 resulted in the pre-tax profit of €1.48m.
The company recorded a post tax profit of €1.26m after incurring a corporation tax charge of €216,570.
The firm's cost of sales last year decreased by 21% from €133.68m to €104.77m.
Numbers employed last year increased from 38 to 59 as staff costs rose from €2.4m to €4.17m which included a restructuring charge of €168,001 and share based payments of €449,093.
The profit last year takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €912,146.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
