US car maker, Tesla has lost its crown as the top maker of all-electric vehicles to Chinese firm BYD, according to sales figures released Tuesday, January 2, 2024.
The US-based car manufacturer run by billionaire Elon Musk delivered 484,507 vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2023, said a company filing – up more than 11 per cent from the previous quarter.
But this increase was not enough to maintain Tesla’s crown as the world’s top battery electric vehicle producer and seller, as Chinese rival BYD reported sales on Monday of 526,409 for the same period.
These figures underscore the challenges Tesla will likely face this year, from competitors keen to capitalize on the growing demand for EVs..
Tesla stock, which doubled last year, was nearly flat on Tuesday in a broadly weaker market.
As well as besting Tesla in pure electric vehicle sales, BYD sold more than 400,000 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles in the fourth quarter.
In total, it sold more than three million passenger vehicles last year.
However, Tesla was still the top seller of EVs on an annual basis, delivering more than 1.8 million vehicles to customers in the year to December, well above BYD’s sales figure of just under 1.6 million.
BYD’s deliveries show price cuts are working for the Chinese company, said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown.
“The fight will hurt margins for both companies, but BYD clearly believes it’s a price worth paying to increase market share and recognition,” she added.
Tesla increased discounts and offered incentives like six months of free fast charging if customers took deliveries by December-end, in a bid to boost sales before some variants of its compact Model 3 sedan lose US federal tax credits in 2024.
That helped it post a growth of 11 per cent over the immediately previous quarter and higher than estimates of 473,253, according to 14 analysts polled by LSEG.
It made a record 494,989 vehicles in the quarter after a production halt in the third quarter to upgrade assembly lines, taking total production in 2023 to 1.85 million units.
Tesla’s delivery numbers are “much, much, much better than domestic US car companies,” said Gary Bradshaw, portfolio manager at Tesla shareholder Hodges Capital.
Smaller rival Rivian also reported deliveries on Tuesday, with the company missing market estimates amid a broader pullback in EV demand.
The weakness has led US automakers including Ford and General Motors to become more cautious about their EV production capacity plans.
Tesla is also facing scrutiny from regulators over its self-driving technology with the company recalling more than 2 million vehicles last month to install new safeguards in its Autopilot advanced driver-assistance system, after a federal safety regulator cited safety concerns.
Consumer Reports – an influential US non-profit group that conducts extensive reviews of cars, kitchen appliances and other goods – said its preliminary evaluation suggests the software update to fix issues was not sufficient and did not go far enough to prevent misuse and driver inattention.
Some analysts said Tesla could have to continue the price cuts it started in January last year to maintain demand after the end of the tax incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) brought forward sales into the fourth quarter.
“Tesla may have to cut prices further, especially for a vehicle like the versions of the Model 3 that lost their tax credit,” said Seth Goldstein, equity strategist at Morningstar.
The rear-wheel drive and long-range variants of Tesla’s Model 3 no longer have federal tax credits of US$7,500 this year as updated requirements on battery material sourcing kick in, under the IRA.
Goldstein, however, said that most of the price cuts were in response to higher interest rates by the US Federal Reserve so Tesla may maintain prices if borrowing costs start coming down.
Model 3 cars and Model Y sports utility vehicles accounted for 461,538 deliveries in the quarter, while Tesla handed over about 23,000 units of its other models.
Tesla did not disclose if the deliveries included the newly launched Cybertruck.Agencies/FS
