Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk speaks during a Tesla product unveiling event in Los Angeles on October 10, 2024.
Tesla | Via Reuters
Tesla It announced vehicle production and deliveries in the fourth quarter a report Thursday. Here are the key numbers:
Total deliveries in Q4 2024: 495,570
Total production in the fourth quarter of 2024: 459,445
Total annual deliveries 2024: 1,789,226
Total annual production 2024: 1,773,443
The quarter's results mark the first annual decline in delivery numbers for Tesla, down from 484,507 in the fourth quarter of 2023. For the full year, deliveries were down from 1.81 million in 2023.
Tesla shares fell more than 3% in pre-market trading Thursday.
Analysts had expected Tesla to report quarterly deliveries of 504,770 vehicles, including 474,000 Model 3 and Model Y EVs, according to consensus estimates compiled by StreetAccount. Tesla sent some investors a consensus of 506,763 vehicles delivered by the company, based on a poll of 26 analysts. An independent Tesla researcher, who publishes under the name Troy Teslik, expects deliveries to reach 501,000 cars.
Deliveries are the closest rough estimate of sales reported by Tesla but were not precisely defined in the company's shareholder communications.
The fourth-quarter report comes after a late-year surge in Tesla shares, which ended 2024 up 63%. In mid-December, stocks It reached a record highsurpassing its all-time high since 2021.
It was a big turnaround from the first quarter, when the stock decreased by 29%It is its worst period since 2022, as the company suffered from declining sales despite price cuts and incentives for buyers. On the company's first-quarter earnings call in April, C.E.O Elon Musk He told investors that while he expects “higher sales this year than last year,” the growth rate will slow from 38% in 2023.
The biggest story at Tesla in the last half of the year has been Musk's role as president-elect Donald Trump Election campaign. Musk, the world's richest person, has spent about $277 million promoting Trump and other Republican candidates, and has spent weeks campaigning in swing states.
Elon Musk speaks with US President-elect Donald Trump during a demonstration of the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket, in Brownsville, Texas, US, November 19, 2024.
Brandon Bell | Via Reuters
Musk, who also runs SpaceX and xAI and owns the social media network X, is set to co-lead a Trump administration advisory group aimed at cutting federal spending, staffing and regulations.
Musk's entry into politics may have “taken his focus away from his core business,” Sam Fiorani, vice president of industry research group Auto Forecast Solutions, told CNBC in an email. However, he said the degree of interest from investors or buyers of electric vehicles will not be reflected in Tesla's numbers until the first quarter.
Until recently, Tesla was one of the only automakers to mass produce battery-powered electric vehicles. The company now faces an onslaught of competition from local automakers, including… GM, Ford and Rivian As well as BYD in China, Hyundai in Korea, and European car giants BMW and Volkswagen.
InsideEVs editor-in-chief Patrick George told CNBC that he believes Tesla still does many things better than any other electric car maker, especially when it comes to its charging network. But Tesla's biggest operational challenge last quarter was “the core mission of being a car company.”
“Used car backlog”
Tesla has invested in its humanoid robotics initiative and chip development, and plans to produce a customized robotaxi and start a driverless ride-hailing service before 2027. While Musk and shareholders may not want to view Tesla as just a car company, most of the profits are still derived from Vehicle sales.
George said Tesla made a mistake by not bringing “affordable electric vehicles in 2024,” and added that Cybertrucks — the company's newest vehicle — are “piling up in used car lots.” The angular steel Cybertruck starts at around $80,000.
As competitors gain market share in Europe, Tesla saw a sharp decline in sales in the region during the fourth quarter.
From January through the end of November, Tesla sold 283,000 vehicles in Europe, down about 14% from the same period a year earlier, according to registration data from the Association of European Automobile Manufacturers, or ACEA. Registrations in Europe fell to 18,786 in November from about 31,810 the previous year.
The company's business in China also came under pressure in the fourth quarter.
Although the Model Y is the second best-selling model in China, “its growth is failing to keep pace with the growth of the market,” Fiorani said. During November, Model Y sales rose more than 5%, but overall electric vehicle sales in the country rose 8%, he said.
Meanwhile, BYD and other brands in China, including Chery, Li Auto, Jetour, LeapMotor and Aito, have grown much faster than Tesla. BYD is also setting up factories outside China and is exporting impressively.
In North America, Tesla remains dominant. The company offered a range of incentives and Price reductionseven on the more popular Model Y SUV, during the fourth quarter to increase sales. However, Tesla has seen a buildup in inventory.
During the fourth quarter, the company sent Cybertruck assembly line workers home for a few days, suggesting it may be looking to avoid flooding the market with too many vehicles.
Looking ahead to 2025, Musk said on an earnings call in October that Tesla expects to introduce low-cost self-driving cars in 2025, which would lead to “20% to 30% growth” through 2024.
He watches: China's auto market could reach 55-60% EVs by the end of 2025
