Weak business figures
Tesla’s quarterly profit falls 55 percent
April 24, 2024, 2:08 a.m
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The US electric car manufacturer Tesla is struggling with falling sales figures. In the first quarter, Elon Musk’s group delivered fewer vehicles than in the same period last year. This puts pressure on sales and profits. The shares are still rising on the stock market.
Tesla posted its first sales decline in nearly four years last quarter. Revenues fell by nine percent year-on-year to $21.3 billion (19.9 billion euros), as the electric car pioneer announced after the US stock market closed on Tuesday. Analysts on average had expected sales of $22.15 billion. Tesla’s earnings per share were also below market expectations. The bottom line is that quarterly profits fell by 55 percent to 1.13 billion dollars (1.06 billion euros).
The decline in business figures became apparent after Tesla missed expectations in the first quarter with deliveries of around 387,000 vehicles. It was 8.5 percent less than in the same quarter of the previous year – and a slump of 20 percent compared to the last quarter of 2023. Tesla points out, among other things, that production at the Grünheide plant near Berlin was temporarily suspended in the first quarter after an attack on the power supply .
New models are to come
Tesla initially did not give a specific forecast for deliveries for the current year, but expects a noticeable slowdown in the pace of growth compared to 2023. Company boss Elon Musk emphasized in a conference call with analysts that he still expected an increase in sales. The share temporarily rose by more than seven percent in after-hours trading. The price had fallen by more than 40 percent since the beginning of the year.
When presenting the quarterly figures, Tesla confirmed that new models should go into production before the second half of 2025 – including cheaper vehicles. Recently, according to media reports, there were doubts as to whether Tesla would stick to a cheaper model that had been announced for years. Musk recently announced the launch of a robotaxis on August 8th, but did not mention the cheaper model for human drivers.
After rapid growth in recent years, Tesla is encountering weaker demand and growing competition, especially from China. Company boss Elon Musk is cutting more than one in ten jobs. Over the weekend, Tesla again reduced the prices for some model variants.