Tesla sales are almost flat in 2024
- Despite having made up some of its delay in the fourth quarter of 2024, the American carmaker of battery electric vehicles (BEV), Tesla, sold 1.79 million units worldwide in 2024, which represents a decrease compared to the previous year. This decrease remains modest however (-1%) with a volume of 20,000 units less compared to 2023 while we were approaching 100,000 units less at the end of September 2024.
- This result should be compared with Tesla's production volume which reached 1,773,443 units in 2024 compared to 1,845,985 units in 2023, meaning a decrease of 4%.
- The sales decline of Tesla models is part of a context of declining sales of battery electric vehicles in Europe in 2024 (-1% over the 11 months) and an intense competition in China against local players including BYD, which is approaching Tesla in terms of BEV production (1.76 million BEV sales in 2024) and could overtake it in 2025.
- In addition, Tesla has a limited and old range compared to its Chinese competitors, mainly BYD. The project of a compact Tesla at 30,000 euros remains hypothetical. And part of the potential new customers in China is now turning to plug-in hybrids (PHEV), a technology that Tesla does not market in opposition of the abundant range of BYD PHEVs. So much so that BYD sold nearly 2.5 million PHEVs worldwide in 2024 in addition to 1.76 million BEVs, which allowed this Chinese carmaker to be the 6th worldwide carmaker in 2024 behind Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai-Kia, Stellantis and GM.