The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that Tesla kicked off 2026 with its weakest quarterly deliveries in a year, missing Wall Street expectations as fading U.S. incentives and intensifying global competition strain its core electric-vehicle business. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe says that shares of the Elon Musk-led company fell 4 per cent, after losing about 15 per cent so far this year. The figures also pointed to a growing imbalance between output and demand. Tesla produced 50,363 more vehicles than it delivered during the quarter, signalling a build-up in inventory. Rising U.S. gasoline prices triggered by the Iran war could support EV demand, analysts have said. The world's most valuable carmaker is navigating intensifying competition, having lost its EV sales crown last year to China's BYD amid pressure from legacy and lower-cost Chinese rivals. Still, Tesla's China-made electric-vehicle sales rose for a second consecutive quarter. For the January-March period, sales increased 23.5 per cent from a year earlier. The expiry of a $7,500 (U.S.) federal tax credit in the United States at the end of September dealt a blow to U.S. electric-vehicle demand, stripping away a key incentive for an EV purchase.