Tesla Just Had Its First Full-Year Sales Decline

Though the difference is slight – only around one percent – 2024’s performance marks the first time in Tesla’s history that its annual sales failed to grow. Surprisingly, that revelation came at the same time as the automaker reported a significant gain in fourth-quarter sales last year, delivering 495,570 vehicles, one of its best periods ever and a jump over the prior quarter.

As you might imagine, those results tempered excitement about Tesla stock, though the company had a good 2024 overall. The stock dropped four percent after the sales report came out, but Tesla investors saw a 68 percent increase across 2024 as a whole. Those numbers could increase further as Tesla CEO Elon Musk works to influence the incoming Trump administration’s policy decisions.

Despite its late 2024 surge, Tesla still fell short of the numbers delivered by China’s BYD, which moved 595,413 EVs in Q4. The automaker has cut prices and offered incentives like free Supercharging to boost sales, but it is facing increasingly intense competition from legacy automakers like Ford and VW. Asian companies have become global behemoths in the EV space. Korea’s Hyundai and Kia, along with China’s BYD and dozens of other companies, have all become significant hurdles to Tesla’s rise.

[Images: Tesla]

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