Despite a strong final quarter Tesla will sell fewer cars in 2024
Things have been looking up for Tesla for a long time. But the slowdown in the electric car business is also hitting the market leader with a drop in sales last year. Company boss Musk hopes for robotaxis.
03.01.2025, 21:45
dpa
Tesla suffered the first decline in deliveries of its electric cars in more than a decade in 2024. The US manufacturer led by tech billionaire Elon Musk delivered just under 1.79 million vehicles to customers. That was 19,355 fewer than in 2023. Musk had forecast a slight increase.
However, Tesla would have had to deliver 515,000 cars to customers in the final quarter to achieve this. Despite a sales offensive, only 495,570 vehicles were sold in the end - still a record figure. The figure also fell short of analysts' average estimates.
Musk's closeness to Trump caused share price to rise
Tesla shares fell by around five percent at times in early US trading. The stock has been soaring since the US presidential election in November. This was triggered by Musk's closeness to future US President Donald Trump.
Musk himself said that he sees Tesla "between two waves of growth". 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 proximity to Trump, Musk could build up pressure for more favorable 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 truck.
Rival BYD with strong growth
In contrast, Chinese competitor BYD, which is now in a neck-and-neck race with Tesla, increased its sales of purely electric cars by 41 percent to 1.76 million vehicles last year.
BYD's rapid growth is in stark contrast to the weakness of other car manufacturers, primarily from Europe. While Volkswagen, Nissan and Stellantis are struggling with falling sales figures in China, local hero BYD could soon become the best-selling electric car brand in the world.
