2 days Ago By Tlatham21
Elon Musk may have had a strong 2024 , but his Tesla did not. Sales at the automaker fell for the first time ever last year, compared with 2023, the Verge reported on Thursday. In 2024, Tesla produced slightly fewer than 1.
8 million cars, a 4 percent drop from the prior year. And the marque delivered a similar yet slightly higher number of vehicles, down 1 percent from 2023. While the numbers may not be rosy, they also might not be all that surprising to the company.
Early in 2024, as the Verge noted, Musk said Tesla’s performance would be affected by more competition in the electric-vehicle space and slowing demand for Tesla cars. In general, drivers haven’t widely adopted EVs, instead opting to buy hybrid vehicles or sticking with gas-powered ones. Still, despite those trends, Tesla did have a strong end to the year.
The company announced that it had a record number of deliveries and deployments in the fourth quarter of 2024: More than 495,000 vehicles were delivered, and 11 gigawatt hours of energy storage were deployed. (More than 459,000 vehicles were also produced.) It’s a good sign heading into the new year, although many questions remain as 2025 gets underway.
Most pressing, perhaps, is how Donald Trump’s ascension to the White House will affect Tesla. Although Musk and Trump are friendly, the incoming president is set to undo policies that have made electric vehicles more affordable in the United States, the Verge wrote. The $7,500 tax credit that many people receive when buying a new EV could be kaput, for example.
And beyond Tesla’s home country of the U.S., China has historically been the company’s largest and most important market, according to the Verge.
However, the homegrown EV company BYD is gaining ground there, as are other entrants into the EV space. That hurts both Tesla and other U.S.
marques currently selling their vehicles in China. Musk, though, is hoping that Tesla can navigate the choppy waters, with new additions to its lineup hopefully proving attractive to consumers. A cheaper model from the company is set to become available this year, and a fully autonomous Cybercab is on the docket for 2026.
Tesla will just have to wait and see whether that makes for a more favorable 2025..
