Tesla stock slides after first-ever delivery drop

For the first time, Tesla has reported a decrease in shipments, which causes the prices of shares.

The EV company shared its Q4 production and delivery report on Thursday, giving a full picture of its overall shipments for the past year. Tesla delivered 1.79 million vehicles in 2024, compared with 1.81 million vehicles in 2023. After the report was published, stock prices dipped 7 percent before recovering a few points, but did not rise to the previous company’s price per share.

According to CNBCAnalysts expected Tesla shipments to increase to more than 500,000 in Q4. However, the company did not meet industry expectations and delivered only 495,570 vehicles. The reason is not clear, but after being the main EV manufacturer for several years, others have started to take over, so Tesla faces more competition. There’s Rivian, but General Motors, Ford, BMW and Volkswagen have also started mass-producing EVs.

Also, Tesla has still to make an EV cheaper and instead was focused on selling his expensive Cybertruck, which it was afflicted with six recalls in 2024. In addition, Tesla may have too many Cybertrucks in its inventory, indicating a demand problem, and EV trucks are accumulating in used car lots, according to InsideEVs.

In the second half of 2024, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has very publicly changed his focus to helping Donald Trump get elected. Musk donated $277 million to Trump’s campaign efforts and spent several weeks on the campaign trail. Although Musk’s distractions from Tesla may have had an impact on the health of the company’s stock, analyst Sam Fiorani told CNBC that this will not be reflected until the first quarter results report of this year.