Tesla’s sales fall for the first time in more than a decade, while China’s BYD grows

Tesla may be blowing up, but sales aren’t. Elon Musk’s car company has released its annual sales figures for 2024, revealing that it shipped 1.79 million – slightly below the 1.8 million the company shipped in 2023. This is the first time in more than a decade that the company has experienced a decline in car sales despite reduced pricesmassive ad-triggered eventsand wider Cybertruck availability.

The weak sales figures for the year, which fell short of analysts’ forecasts, came despite a frantic drive to make up for lost time in the fourth quarter. From October to December, Tesla delivered 495,570 cars, a figure driven in part by the company offering any incentive find to attract prospective car buyers. Want 0% financing? You got it. Three months of free access to “Full Self-Driving” and Supercharging? Done. Super cheap leases? Of course. Still, sales were underwhelming—and still are stocks falltoo.

Usually, when you know you’re going to miss investor markers, you try to temper expectations going forward until you can build them up. But Musk has already laid the groundwork for exponential growth. Back in October, Tesla’s CEO told investors he expected sales to increase by up to 30% in 2025.

It would be fair to call that claim dubious, especially considering the company simply missed its sales targets in a year where market conditions are much more favorable than they will be soon. Musk’s friend Donald Trump appears to be ready eliminating the Biden-era tax credit for electric vehicleswhich it was attributed to boosting EV sales over the past few years. Even places that intend to maintain a credit to incentivize car buyers to switch to electric, such as California, are now considering excluding Teslas from eligibility.

Globally, the market is about to get much more difficult for Tesla to compete with. While the company reached a record for car sales in China last monthit also gets its lunch on the global stage from Chinese firm BYD. The company 4.25 million cars were sold this year and now threatens to overtake Tesla as the most popular EV in China.

There doesn’t seem to be an obvious savior on the horizon for Tesla either. The Cybertruck remains the company’s most recognizable vehicle thanks to its futuristic dumpster vibe, but the company sent less than 50,000 units in 2024 and looks like demand for the truck flattens or declines.

Maybe Trump’s plan to loosen federal regulations on self-driving vehicles will lead to a mass rollout of promises from Tesla”Cybercab”, a two-seater autonomous car (this could actually be remotely controlled by humans), which Musk claims will cost less than $30,000 and will be on the roads in two to three years. But considering the company challenges in scaling up production for anything, it would be hard to imagine that it could meet demand, even if it provided the opportunity to turn the sales chart around.