Tesla: Elon Musk’s EV giant’s sales disappoint with first fall in a decade
Elon Musk’s EV giant Tesla disappointed with its earnings report today, with its first fall in annual deliveries for over a decade. The electric car behemoth, which has been in the news in the last 24-hours after a vehicles exploded in the US outside a Donald Trump-owned hotel, delivered 1.70 million electric vehicles (EVs) in [...]
Elon Musk’s EV giant Tesla disappointed with its earnings report today, with its first fall in annual deliveries for over a decade.
The electric car behemoth, which has been in the news in the last 24-hours after a vehicles exploded in the US outside a Donald Trump-owned hotel, delivered 1.70 million electric vehicles (EVs) in 2024.
This fell way short of Wall Street expectations and marked a hiccup in the company’s steady growth.
The Texas-based company reported its fourth quarter deliveries on Thursday, announcing a slight drop in EV sales from the previous year’s 1.81 million.
Tesla’s quarter deliveries totalled 495,570 vehicles, hitting below analyst consensus estimates of 498,000, according to FactSet.
Despite a 2.3 per cent year-over-year increase in quarterly deliveries, this wasn’t enough to reverse the leading firm’s annual decline.
Tesla’s vehicle deliveries, which reflect market demand, previously showed consistent annual growth of at least 35 per cent since 2016.
Elon Musk expected slight growth in 2024 despite macroeconomic challenges, yet these results suggest the company struggled to sustain momentum amid slowing sales both in Europe and the US.
Shares in Tesla fell four per cent in premarket trading following the release, with delivery data – a key stock catalyst – underscoring the challenges Tesla faced in meeting market expectations.
Tesla’s slight delivery miss comes as the EV market faces increasing competition and slowing demand in mature markets.
To counteract these trends, Tesla offered incentives and discounts throughout 2024 to boost demand, particularly in China, its largest growth market.
While Tesla has led the EV sector for years, its delivery dip highlights increasing pressures from rivals such as BYD and traditional automakers who are rapidly scaling their EV production.
Barclays analysts had noted that Tesla’s recent delivery numbers carry less significance as investor focus shifts towards future technologies like self-driving cars and robotics, saying ‘investors overwhelmingly agree that the importance of this Q4 volume print is relatively lower than normal’.
Tesla will report on its fourth quarter earnings on January 29th, with analysts projecting a record revenue of $99.7b, but a net profit of $8.1b – its weakest bottom line in the past five years.
