2024 was not the best year for the electric vehicle industry. This is once again confirmed by Tesla’s sales figures. For the first time in more than 10 years, the company recorded a decline in annual sales of electric vehicles, despite record deliveries in the fourth quarter.
In 2024, Tesla sold a total of 1.79 million electric vehicles, slightly less than in 2023 (1.81 million units) and below the consensus analysts’ forecast. After the publication of the results, Tesla shares fell by 7.6% in New York, although they grew by 63% in 2024.
Tesla faced a number of challenges in 2024:
In April, the company laid off more than 10% of its staff, including salespeople.
Nevertheless, in October, Tesla announced that it expects «moderate growth of» deliveries for the year. To this end, the company offered various financial offers, discounts on charging, and favorable leasing terms for customers at the end of the year. However, all these measures did not help to increase sales to the required level.
In the fourth quarter, the company delivered 495570 vehicles, which is less than the expected 512277 units. To achieve the targeted «small» growth in annual sales, Tesla would have to sell almost 515 thousand cars during this period.
Barclay’s analyst Dan Levy noted in a note to clients that the data confirms Tesla’s growth challenges in 2025, relying on the «still unknown Model 2.5».
These results are a reminder of the real difficulties for electric car manufacturers, despite the hype around self-driving cars and Elon Musk’s closeness to US President-elect Donald Trump. Declining consumer demand is affecting EV sales, and this could be exacerbated by Trump’s desire to reduce incentives for electric vehicles.
Nevertheless, Elon Musk told investors that Tesla expects growth of 20-30% in 2025, in particular due to the launch of a more affordable model to be introduced in the first half of the year, as well as autonomous driving technologies. However, the company did not disclose any details about the new car, including its price or appearance.
Source: bloomberg