Tesla deliveries were lower than Wall Street expected, but Musk keeps focusing on a reportedly history-making event.
Tesla, the world’s second-largest electric vehicle maker, announced disappointing deliveries for the third quarter of 2024. Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk said the company is focusing on next week’s marketing event when a new robotaxi model will reportedly be announced.
Deliveries in the period ending on September 30th amounted to 462,890 against 469,796 cars produced. Sales were below most Wall Street estimates. A Bloomberg poll of economists predicted 463,897 in deliveries, while estimates compiled by FactSet StreetAccount expected 463,310 cars sold.
Independent researcher “Troy Teslike” had predicted 472,000 deliveries, almost 10,000 vehicles more than the actual figure. Tesla’s stock price fell by 1.03% today, though it’s still up 3.41% year-to-date.
Tesla’s deliveries have constantly disappointed investors this year despite the release of the Cybertruck in late 2023. In the last quarter of 2023, Tesla sold 484,510 vehicles, the highest figure in the company’s history.
However, already in Q1 2024, the company showed signs of recession by selling “only” 386,810 cars. In that quarter, the Chinese BYD passed Tesla as the world’s largest EV maker.
The Cybertruck was clearly not the solution for Tesla’s mounting issues, as the model was too difficult to mass produce and is unlikely to hit mainstream markets in the foreseeable future.
The company is suffering from increased competition around the globe, especially in China. Chinese companies, with BYD at the forefront, are expanding their gaze to Western markets, challenging the dominance of legacy carmakers.
Robotaxis and Musk’s promises
As deliveries kept disappointing markets, Tesla investors began dumping the stock, causing it to plummet by almost 40% year-to-date. In the summer, however, Elon Musk renewed its promise to announce a Robotaxi model, regaining the trust of investors and rebounding the yearly losses.
Musk has been promising a Robotaxi for years, though he never revealed any details about the project. Meanwhile, promising start-ups like Waymo already operate commercial robotaxi services.
“We believe Robotaxi Day will be a seminal and historical day for Musk and Tesla and marks a new chapter of growth around autonomous, FSD [Full Self-Driving], and AI future at Tesla,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note to clients on Tuesday.
The event will take place on October 10th, after being delayed it from August 8th. It will be the first commercially competitive model released by Tesla since 2019.
Speculations around the announcement abound, although there are no officially confirmed details. In any case, it wouldn’t be the first time Elon Musk stakes the future of his company on one announcement.
