(Reuters) – Tesla reported on Wednesday that its gross margin for the October-December period fell year-on-year, as the electric vehicle maker lowered its prices to encourage demand and warned of a sharp slowdown. of the growth in the volume of its vehicles this year.
The group’s stock fell 2.3% in post-closing stock market trading.
“In 2024, our vehicle volume growth rate is expected to be significantly lower than the rate achieved in 2023, as our teams work to launch next-generation vehicles at our gigafactory in Texas,” Tesla said in a statement.
The firm led by Elon Musk published a gross margin of 17.6% for the October-December period, compared to 23.8% a year earlier, while the consensus was 18.3% according to LSEG data. In the previous quarter, the group’s gross margin stood at 17.9%.
Tesla said that lower raw material costs and U.S. government aid helped reduce the cost of production per vehicle, but that Cybertruck production, artificial intelligence (AI) and other research projects did. increase spending.
Tesla’s quarterly revenue rose 3% to $25.17 billion, compared to a consensus of $25.62 billion. This is the lowest growth in more than three years.
Its adjusted profit came to 71 cents per share, while analysts on average expected an amount of 74 cents according to LSEG data.
Tesla managed to meet its delivery target of 1.8 million vehicles in 2023, even though Elon Musk had warned of a dip in demand in a context of rising interest rates.
However, the American group lost its status as the leading manufacturer of electric vehicles in terms of the number of vehicles sold in the fourth quarter, overtaken by the Chinese group BYD.
(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bangalore, Hyun Joo Jin and Abhirup Roy in San Francisco; French version Jean Terzian)
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