Progress in the race for electric cars. The figures published this Tuesday by the American Tesla confirm that its sales lagged behind those of the Chinese BYD for the first time in the fourth quarter of this year. The data confirms that the absolute dominance of the electric car market, which justified Tesla valuations well over a trillion dollars, is far from reality.
Tesla announced this Tuesday that it delivered 484,507 cars in the fourth quarter of 2023. This figure represents a record for the company and a growth of 19.5% compared to the previous year. For the full year 2023, Tesla's sales amounted to 1.81 million units, an increase of 38% compared to 2022.
The company has achieved its official goal of achieving sales of 1.8 million units in 2023. However, Elon Musk, in a moment of euphoria, noted at the analyst conference a year ago that the price cuts made by the company could allow it to reach two million cars sold last year.
Although Tesla maintained the lead in the pure-electric market for the full year, China's BYD dethroned Elon Musk's company in the fourth quarter by selling 526,409 electric cars, according to data released on Monday. Already in the third quarter, the Asian company was on the verge of overtaking the American company, and in the fourth quarter the verdict was clear.
BYD also sells plug-in hybrid vehicles. During the year, the Chinese company sold 1.57 million electric cars and 1.44 million hybrid cars. With the combination of both technologies, it will have already overtaken Tesla in 2022. The company is also growing significantly faster than Tesla in relation to pure electric vehicles, 73%.
Tesla cars are much more expensive and, as expected, their revenue from pure electric vehicle sales continues to be higher. The company will report its fourth quarter and fiscal 2023 results on January 24. In 2022, the company became the most profitable American automaker, ahead of General Motors and Ford. Price cuts eroded margins in 2023, and neither sales nor profits grew at the same rate as units sold.
With the introduction of the Cybertruck electric SUV at the end of November, Tesla entered the competitive US truck market. The company has not provided information on the number of units of this model sold, which for now has a symbolic meaning in the total. Musk has warned that it could take between 12 and 18 months for the company to reach production volumes and generate positive cash flow with this difficult-to-manufacture vehicle, which features new technologies. The Cybertruck arrives much late compared to original plans, more than four years after its eventful public presentation.
In October, Musk indicated in an analyst conference to present third-quarter results that he expects to sell about 250,000 units of this model per year, although he estimates that cruising speed will not be reached until 2025.
Fourth-quarter sales were slightly above analysts' forecasts, but not enough to beat Chinese rival BYD Auto, a company founded in January 2003 by BYD Group owner Wang Chuanfu after the acquisition of Xi'an was founded Qinchuan Automobile. The company began producing its first plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, the BYD F3DM, in 2008, followed by its first battery-electric vehicle, the BYD e6, in 2009. The company stopped producing internal combustion engine vehicles in March 2022, to focus exclusively on new energy vehicles. The company sells its vehicles under the main BYD brand and also has high-end vehicles under the Denza, Yangwang and Fangchengbao brands.
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