A report released Tuesday by the California New Car Dealers Association shows Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) experienced a 24% drop in vehicle registrations in California during the first quarter compared with the same period a year earlier.
The association, citing data from Experian Automotive, frames the decline as part of a broader realignment within the state's new-vehicle market. The quarterly figures indicate that vehicles classified as zero-emission represented less than 14% of all new registrations. In contrast, gas-electric hybrid models expanded their share to roughly 21% of the market during the same quarter.
Within that market context, the Tesla Model Y retained its position as the top-selling vehicle in California for the quarter. The Toyota Camry, identified in the data as a hybrid, was the second-best seller.
The report also notes a policy response at the state level. With federal incentives for electric vehicles reduced, Governor Gavin Newsom has introduced $200 million in state subsidies intended to support the adoption of zero-emission vehicles.
Those policy measures, combined with shifts in consumer uptake reflected in the registration data, illustrate a changing composition in California's new-vehicle market between fully zero-emission vehicles and hybrids. The dealer association report and the Experian Automotive figures provide the underlying registration counts and shares used to detail these trends.
While Tesla registrations fell by nearly one-quarter versus the year-ago quarter, the Model Y continued to lead unit sales by model, and hybrid models collectively gained a larger percentage of registrations. The state subsidy proposal was described in the report as a response to a reduction in federal incentives, but the figures themselves simply reflect the registration outcomes recorded for the quarter.
Data sources: California New Car Dealers Association report released Tuesday, drawing on Experian Automotive data.