Tesla TSLA Q4 2024 vehicle delivery and production numbers

On January 2, 2025By Littum

Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk speaks during an unveiling event for Tesla products in Los Angeles on Oct. 10, 2024.

Tesla | Via Reuters

Tesla posted its car production and deliveries in the fourth quarter report on Thursday. Here are the key figures:

Total deliveries Q4 2024: 495,570

Total production Q4 2024: 459,445

Total annual deliveries 2024: 1,789,226

Total annual production 2024: 1,773,443

The results for the quarter represented the first annual decline in delivery numbers for Tesla, which reported 1.81 million deliveries in 2023. It reported 484,507 deliveries in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Tesla shares fell as much as 7% in trading on Thursday.

Analysts had expected Tesla to report deliveries in the quarter of 504,770, including 474,000 Model 3 and Model Y EVs, according to a consensus of estimates compiled by StreetAccount. Tesla sent some investors a company-compiled delivery consensus of 506,763 vehicles based on a survey of 26 analysts. A widely followed independent Tesla researcher who publishes as Troy Teslike predicted deliveries of 501,000.

Deliveries are the closest approximation of sales reported by Tesla, but are not precisely defined in the company’s shareholder communications.

The fourth-quarter report comes on the heels of a huge year-end surge in Tesla’s stock, which ended 2024 up 63%. In mid-December, stocks hit a record high, eclipsing their previous record high from 2021.

It was a big turnaround from the first quarter, when the stock plunged 29%, its worst period since 2022, as the company struggled with falling sales despite price cuts and incentives for buyers. On the company’s first-quarter earnings call in April, CEO Elon Musk told investors that while he expected “higher sales this year than last year,” the growth rate would slow from 38% in 2023.

The biggest story at Tesla in the back half of the year was Musk’s role in President-elect Donald Trump’s election campaign. Musk, the world’s richest person, poured in about $277 million to promote Trump and other Republican candidates and spent weeks on the road campaigning in swing states.

Elon Musk speaks with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump at a viewing of the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket in Brownsville, Texas, U.S., on November 19, 2024.

Brandon Bell | Via Reuters

Musk, who also runs SpaceX and xAI and owns the social network X, has been tapped to lead an advisory group to the Trump administration that will aim to cut federal spending, personnel and regulations.

Sam Fiorani, a vice president at industry research group Auto Forecast Solutions, told CNBC in an email that Musk’s foray into politics may have “pulled his focus away from his core businesses.” But the degree to which investors or EV buyers care won’t be reflected in Tesla’s numbers until the first quarter, he said.

Until recently, Tesla had been one of the only automakers to mass-produce battery-electric vehicles. The company now faces an onslaught of competition from domestic automakers including General Motors, Ford and Rivian as well as BYD in China, Hyundai in Korea and European car giants BMW and Volkswagen.

Patrick George, editor-in-chief of InsideEVs, told CNBC that he believes Tesla still does many things better than any other EV maker, especially when it comes to its charging network. But Tesla’s biggest operational challenge in the past quarter was the “nuts-and-bolts job of being a car company.”

‘Picking up on used cars’

Tesla has invested in a humanoid robotics initiative and chip development, and plans to produce a dedicated robot axis and launch a driverless ride-hailing service by 2027. While Musk and shareholders may not want to see Tesla as just a car company, most of the profit is still derived from car sales.

George said Tesla made a mistake by not bringing “more affordable electric cars by 2024,” adding that Cybertrucks — the company’s newest vehicle — are “piling up used cars.” The angular steel Cybertruck starts at around $80,000.

With competitors taking market share in Europe, Tesla saw a steep decline in sales in the region during the fourth quarter.

From January to the end of November, Tesla sold 283,000 vehicles in Europe, down about 14% from the same period a year earlier, according to registration data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, or ACEA. Registrations in Europe fell to 18,786 in November from about 31,810 a year earlier.

The company’s business in China was also under pressure in the fourth quarter.

Fiorani said that while the Model Y is the second best-selling model in China, “its growth is not able to keep up with the growth of the market.” Through November, Model Y sales were up more than 5%, but overall EV sales in the country were up 8%, he said.

Meanwhile, BYD and other brands in China, including Chery, Li Auto, Jetour, LeapMotor and Aito, grew significantly faster than Tesla. BYD also sets up factories outside of China and exports to a large extent.

In North America, Tesla remains dominant. The company offered a number of incentives and price reductionseven on its most popular Model Y SUV, during the fourth quarter to drive sales. Still, Tesla saw inventory build up.

During the fourth quarter, the company sent Cybertruck assembly line workers home for a few days, indicating that it may be looking to avoid flooding the market with too many of the vehicles.

Looking ahead to 2025, Musk said on an earnings call in October that Tesla expects to offer cheaper and autonomous vehicles by 2025, which should lead to “20% to 30% growth” over 2024.

CLOCK: The Chinese car market may reach 55-60% electric cars by the end of 2025