Total recalls: A brief history of Tesla's biggest roadblocks

From growing pains to Elon Musk's politics, several reversals have obstructed the company's progress

Tesla vehicles at the Everything Electric show in London. Tesla has issued recalls 79 times, according to Cars.com. Reuters

Tesla Motors has reportedly delayed the launch of its highly anticipated low-cost electric vehicle, adding to a list of challenges faced by the world's second-largest EV maker in its colourful yet controversial story.

The company founded by the world's wealthiest person, Elon Musk, had touted that the more affordable Model Y would be rolled out in the first half of 2025.

However, this has been pushed back to anywhere between the second half of this year to early 2026, Reuters reported on Friday, citing sources. Texas-based Tesla has yet to comment on the report.

Here are some of the biggest challenges Tesla has faced.

Rookie pains

Tesla made its first big splash with its debut EV, the two-seater Roadster, in 2008 – catapulting the upstart company into the limelight and planting the seeds for a seismic change in the auto industry.

However, two major issues arose at the time. First was charging – still an issue despite innovations to speed it up – as Tesla's original EV needed anywhere between 24 to 48 hours to power up using a home charger.

The second was the price – Tesla charged $100,000 for the Roadster, pricing out most consumers. For perspective, while the Model S Plaid now fetches a similar price, customers can get a Model Y for as low as $41,490 and even the Cybertruck starts at a little over $72,000. That's in addition to the plethora of options offered by Tesla's rivals, particularly those from China.

Financial humps

In its earliest days, Tesla struggled with its finances. At one point, it had less than $10 million to operate with, and $50 million from Germany's Daimler would not have been enough to support its lofty goals.

To address this, Tesla went public in 2010, raising about $226 million. However, the company was still criticised for its losses, and it was not able to post a quarterly profit until 2013. It was not until 2020 that it finally turned in a full-year profit.

Today, things are more stable. Tesla's market capitalisation surged past the $1 trillion mark in 2021, at the time becoming only the fifth US company to join that elite club. As of Saturday, its market cap sits at more than $776 billion, good for 11th globally, data from CompaniesMarketCap shows.

Chinese rivals

Never mind European and fellow American carmakers, Tesla's biggest headache seems to be the onslaught of competition from China. That country's EV manufacturers have found a way to offer competitive vehicles at even more competitive prices.

The most popular of those foes is BYD, which in the fourth quarter of 2023 overtook Tesla as the world's biggest EV maker, eventually knocking Tesla off the top spot for 2024 – the first time Mr Musk and Co did not finish at No 1 on a yearly basis.

As of January, six of the 10 biggest EV manufacturers are from China, data from CleanTechnica shows.

Total recalls

Last month, Tesla recalled thousands of Cybertrucks in the US due to the risk of part of its trim falling off, in the vehicle's eighth and largest recall.

But that is only part of a wider picture. Tesla has been forced into recalls 79 times, according to data compiled by online marketplace Cars.com, based on statistics from the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Cybertruck ridicule

The Tesla Cybertruck was the epitome of futuristic – radical design, advanced technology and a polarising reputation.

However, it immediately ran into trouble when, during its much-hyped unveiling in 2019, metal balls thrown at its "virtually unbreakable" windows shattered them. And since its launch in late 2023, the Cybertruck has polarised opinion – one side swears by its performance, while the other lambasts it.

The numbers are not helping either. Mr Musk predicted that 250,000 Cybertrucks would be sold annually, but since its rollout only about 46,000 have been sold, which is 82 per cent below expectations.

Musk's politics

It is no secret that Mr Musk played a big role in helping Donald Trump recapture the White House, spending hundreds of millions of dollars on the campaign trail. As a result, Mr Musk was named a special government employee (SGE) tasked with heading the US Department of Government Efficiency, which we know by its acronym Doge.

Doge's mandate is to streamline and cut costs on US federal spending – AKA, in Mr Musk's apparent strategy, fire people and take over sensitive government units.

For that, and for his alignment with the Trump administration, the retaliation against Mr Musk has taken three main forms. The first is falling sales – first-quarter figures were their worst in three years, while the second is investors punishing Tesla in the stock market: from a high of nearly $480 in mid-November, its shares more than halved to about $222 earlier this month.

The third came from consumers and the general public, particularly those incensed by his job cutting, with one popular protester slogan being "Nobody elected Elon Musk". Tesla owners have also found creative ways to make their sentiments known by either "rebranding" their Tesla EVs or removing their logos.

As an SGE, Mr Musk is limited by law to working for the US government for 135 days or less in a 365-day period. It is unclear what his and Mr Trump's plans are after this term expires.