Tesla (TSLA) topped EV delivery estimates for fourth-quarter 2023, reporting a total of 484,507 for the quarter and nearly 1.81 million for the year.
Yahoo Finance Autos Reporter Pras Subramanian breaks down Tesla’s EV delivery and production figures for 2023, and how the Texas-based manufacturer competed with Chinese EV makers like BYD (BYDDY) in 2023.
For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live.
Video Transcript
SEANA SMITH: Well, Tesla is a top trending ticker on Yahoo Finance this morning. Shares, moving to the upside in pre-market trading, up just about 7/10 of a percent. The move higher, coming after its fourth-quarter delivery numbers topped expectations.
Pras Subramanian joining us now at the table. Pras, there was lots of questions about whether or not Tesla was going to reach not only its fourth-quarter goal, but its yearly goal. And it looks like this was enough to get it there.
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Yeah, just barely here. Just the numbers just crossing right now. Delivery-wise, 484,000 for the quarter, beating estimates of $483,000 compiled by Bloomberg. Production-wise, 494,000, almost 495,000 vehicles compared to 482. So a big beat there.
They made a lot of model 3s and Model Y’s. During the quarter, both– they don’t break out regionally, so you don’t know where they were made, but definitely made more in China and the US, and Fremont as well. For comments and comment and comment in context here for the year, 1.81 million cars now for the year.
Globally, that’s 38% higher than a year ago. So, not a little bit below, that 50% compound annual growth rate, which we knew that they were not going to hit because of factory shutdowns and tweakings and things like that. But production still up 35% year over year to 1.85 million. That’s some strong numbers.
There no one is really making EVs like they are, except for BYD in China, which we– I know we’re going to talk about. But–
– Well, that’s the exact question, right? To what extent does Tesla have to worry about some of those other names here?
– Yeah. So, in this quarter, in Q4, BYD made 526,000 pure EVs in the quarter. That’s more than– obviously, more than what Tesla made. For the year, Tesla is still higher, right? For the pure EV numbers, not just hybrids. So still a ways to go, but they’re catching them for sure.
And we talk about BYD. Look, they’re not just China there are 70 countries around the globe, expanding in Europe a lot– in Mexico too. So there’s going to be a lot of pressure on Tesla too. So to how are they going to meet their growth rates if China is already kind of or BYD is, sort of, eating into their competition.
SEANA SMITH: Yeah, and it just also shows how dominant China is in the EV market. How big of a player they are. Obviously, not only in terms of some of the demand, that they’re seeing within China, but what that global growth picture looks like and how much pressure a lot of these companies could be under here.
– Right. Exactly. I mean, the China story continues to be such an important narrative, particularly as that growth just hasn’t come back the way that a lot of the folks on the street that we talked to had anticipated.