Electric car manufacturer: Tesla will sell fewer cars in 2024

Tesla suffered its 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 almost 1.79 million vehicles to customers. That was 19,355 fewer than in 2023. Musk had promised a slight increase.

To do this, Tesla would have had to deliver 515,000 cars to customers in the final quarter. Despite a sales offensive, in the end there were only 495,570 vehicles – a record number after all. The number also missed average estimates from analysts.

Musk’s closeness to Trump caused shares to rise

Tesla shares temporarily fell by around five percent in early US trading. The paper has been on a roll since the US presidential election in November. The trigger is Musk’s proximity to the future US President Donald Trump.

Musk himself said that he sees Tesla “between two waves of growth.” To this end, he is primarily relying on technology for autonomous driving and in October presented the prototype of a robotaxis without a steering wheel or pedals. With his proximity to Trump, Musk could build pressure for more favorable regulatory conditions for self-driving cars. Meanwhile, critics of Tesla point to an aging model range from the industry pioneer, which recently only added a niche model with the electric pickup Cybertruck.

Rival BYD with strong plus

The Chinese competitor BYD, which is now in a neck-and-neck race with Tesla, increased sales of pure electric cars by 41 percent to 1.76 million vehicles last year.

The rapid growth at BYD 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, the local hero BYD could soon become the best-selling electric car brand in the world.