Tesla last year suffered the first decline in deliveries of its electric cars in more than a decade, according to the company’s figures released on Thursday.
The US manufacturer led by tech billionaire Elon Musk delivered just under 1.79 million vehicles to customers. This was 19,355 fewer than in 2023, although Musk had forecast a slight increase.
Tesla would have had to deliver 515,000 cars to customers in the final quarter of 2024 to achieve this. Despite a sales offensive, only 495,570 vehicles were ultimately sold in Q4 – still a record figure. The figure also fell short of analysts’ average estimates.
Tesla shares fell by around 5% at times during the day’s early US trading. The stock has been soaring since the US presidential election in November, triggered by Musk’s proximity to President-elect Donald Trump.
Musk himself said that he sees Tesla currently “between two major growth waves.”
He is focusing primarily on autonomous driving technology and presented the prototype of a robotaxi without a steering wheel or pedals in October.
With his close ties to Trump, Musk could build up pressure for more favourable regulatory conditions for self-driving cars.
Meanwhile, critics of Tesla point to an ageing model range from the industry pioneer, which recently only added one niche model in the form of the Cybertruck electric pickup.
By contrast, Chinese competitor BYD, which is now in a neck-and-neck race with Tesla, last year increased its sales of purely electric cars by 41% to 1.76 million vehicles.
BYD’s rapid growth is in stark contrast to the weakness of other car manufacturers, primarily from Europe.
While Volkswagen, Nissan and Stellantis, for example, are struggling with falling sales figures in China, BYD could soon become the best-selling electric car brand in the world.