Tesla (TSLA-5.85%) has officially failed to reach its 2024 delivery goal, according to the latest sales data released by the electric vehicle maker.
Austin, Texas-based Tesla delivered 495,570 vehicles between October and December, a roughly 2% hike compared to 484,507 units delivered during the fourth quarter of 2023, according to the company. Wall Street had expected deliveries of about 507,000 units.
As of September, Tesla had sold more than 1.29 million vehicles in 2024, which meant that it needed to sell more than 516,000 vehicles between October and December in order to beat its prior sales record of 1.8 million EVs. In its third-quarter presentation, Tesla said it expects “slight growth” in sales for 2024.
However, the company only managed to sell 1.79 million EVs for the year. Although that’s a lot of cars sold, it’s still more than 19,00 deliveries short.
Tesla sold 471,930 Model 3 compact cars and Model Y SUVs between October and December, making up most of its deliveries. That’s up compared to a year earlier when Tesla delivered 461,000 cars.
Tesla also delivered 23,640 other EVs; that category includes sales of the Model X crossover SUV, Model S sedan, and the Cybertruck, an electric pickup released for delivery by Tesla last year. In the fourth quarter of 2023, Tesla sold 22,969 vehicles listed as “other models.”
The company made 436,718 units of the Model Y and Model 3, as well as 22,727 units of all other models last quarter. That comes out to 1.77 million EVs made for the full year, down from 1.84 million a year earlier.
“The miss was so small it doesn’t matter to the long-term investment case,’ Deep Water Management’s Gene Munster wrote of Tesla’s fourth-quarter results. Wedbush Securities’ Dan Ives, another Tesla bull, said Tesla had “respectable” deliveries and that he believes the company will grow sales by between 20% and 30% in 2025.
Tesla stock fell by 6% on the news to about $379 per share, bringing the stock below $400 for the first time since Dec. 10.
Besides Tesla, a number of other companies reported their fourth-quarter sales on Thursday. Xpeng (XPEV-1.65%) delivered 91,507 EVs for the quarter, marking a 52% year-over-year increase, while fellow Chinese automaker Nio (NIO+5.39%) delivered 72,689 EVs, marking 45% growth and a new quarterly record for the company.
BYD (BYDDF-1.59%), Tesla’s biggest rival, said it sold 1.76 million battery electric vehicles and 4.27 million new energy vehicles overall for the year. That’s an improvement compared to a year earlier, but not one that allowed it to beat out Tesla.
With 2025 officially here, Tesla and other EV makers are entering an uncertain environment with a new president on the way. However, that is likely more positive for Tesla than it is for its rivals.
President-elect Donald Trump has grown close to CEO Elon Musk over the past several months as the CEO campaigned hard for his election win. Now, Trump’s team is considering rolling back car-crash reporting rules Tesla opposed, streamlining autonomous vehicle regulations, and ending the $7,500 consumer tax credits for electric vehicles.
As of January, trims of the Model X, Y, 3, and Cybertruck all qualify for the tax credit, according to the Energy Department. However, Musk has said he wants to scrap all tax credits for both oil and electric-powered cars.
“I guess that there would be like some impact, but I think it would be devastating for our competitors and for Tesla slightly,” Musk said in July, adding that Tesla likely benefits in the long term.
Experts believe that removing the tax credit will drastically cut down on EV sales. Future EV demand could be slashed by 27%, University of California, Berkeley, Professor Joseph Shapiro told Bloomberg News in November. Annual EV registrations could decline by some 317,000 cars.
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