Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk speaks during a Tesla product launch in Los Angeles on October 10, 2024.
Tesla | Via Reuters
Tesla released production and deliveries of cars in the fourth quarter the report on Thursday. Here are the key numbers:
Total deliveries in Q4 2024: 495,570
Total production for Q4 2024: 459,445
Total annual deliveries in 2024: 1,789,226
Total annual production 2024: 1,773,443
The results for the quarter represent the first annual drop in annual delivery numbers for Tesla, which reported 1.81 million deliveries in 2023. The company reported 484,507 shipments in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Tesla shares fell more than 3% in premarket trading on Thursday.
Analysts had expected Tesla to report shipments of 504,770 in the quarter, including 474,000 Model 3 and Model Y EVs, according to consensus estimates compiled by StreetAccount. Tesla sent some investors the consensus estimate for shipments of 506,763 vehicles, based on the company’s survey of 26 analysts. A widely popular independent Tesla researcher who publishes as Troy Teslike predicted shipments of 501,000.
The shipments are the closest thing to sales reported by Tesla, but were not specified in the company’s shareholder announcements.
The fourth-quarter report comes on the heels of a huge year-end rally in Tesla shares, which are up 63% in 2024. Actions in mid-December achieved a recordeclipsing their previous all-time high from 2021.
It was a big turnaround from the first quarter when the stock fell 29%it was the worst period since 2022 as the company struggled with declining sales despite price cuts and incentives for shoppers. On the company’s first quarter earnings call in April, the CEO Elon Musk told investors that while it expected sales this year to be higher than last year, growth would slow to 38% in 2023.
The biggest story at Tesla over the past six months has been Musk’s role in the president-elect Donald Trump election campaign. Musk, the world’s richest man, has poured about $277 million into promoting Trump and other Republican candidates and has spent weeks on the road campaigning in swing states.
Elon Musk speaks with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump while watching the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket in Brownsville, Texas, U.S., November 19, 2024.
Brandon Bell | Via Reuters
Musk, who also runs SpaceX and xAI and owns the social network X, has been named to co-chair an advisory group under the Trump administration that will seek to cut federal spending, personnel and regulations.
Sam Fiorani, vice president of industry research group Auto Forecast Solutions, told CNBC in an email that Musk’s foray into politics may have “distracted him from his core business.” However, the extent of concern among investors and electric car buyers won’t be reflected in Tesla’s numbers until the first quarter, he said.
Until recently, Tesla was one of the few automakers mass-producing battery electric vehicles. Now the company is facing the onslaught of competition from domestic automakers, including General Motors Company, Ford and Riviansky as well as BYD in China, Hyundai in Korea and European auto giants BMW and Volkswagen.
Patrick George, editor-in-chief of InsideEVs, told CNBC that he thinks Tesla still does many things better than any other electric car maker, especially when it comes to the charging network. But Tesla’s biggest operational challenge in the last quarter was “working through the nuts and bolts of being a car company.”
“Used Car Hoarding”
Tesla has invested in a humanoid robotics initiative and chip development, and plans to produce a specialized robot taxi and launch a driverless ride-hailing service by 2027. While Musk and shareholders may not want to think of Tesla as just a car company, most of its profits still come from selling cars.
George said Tesla made a mistake by not releasing “more affordable electric vehicles in 2024,” adding that Cybertrucks — the company’s newest vehicle — “are piling up on used car lots.” The angular steel Cybertruck starts at around $80,000.
As rivals increase market share in Europe, Tesla experienced a sharp drop in sales in the region in the fourth quarter.
Between January and 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 European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA). Registrations in Europe fell to 18,786 in November from about 31,810 a year earlier.
The company’s China business was also under pressure in the fourth quarter.
Fiorani said that while the Model Y is the second best-selling model in China, “its growth is not keeping up with the growth of the market.” Model Y sales were up more than 5% through November, but overall electric car sales in the country were up 8%, he said.
Meanwhile, BYD and other brands in China, including Chery, Li Auto, Jetour, LeapMotor and Aito, grew much faster than Tesla. BYD is also opening factories outside of China and exporting hugely.
In North America, Tesla still dominates. The company offered a number of incentives and price reductioneven on its most popular SUV, the Model Y, during the fourth quarter to boost sales. However, Tesla has experienced a build-up of inventory.
In the fourth quarter, the company sent Cybertruck assembly line workers home for several days, indicating that it may be looking to avoid flooding the market with too many vehicles.
Looking ahead to 2025, Musk said during an October earnings call that Tesla plans to offer low-cost and autonomous cars in 2025, which should lead to “20% to 30% growth” in 2024.
WATCH: The Chinese car market could reach 55-60% electric cars by the end of 2025
