Tesla (TSLA) Q1 2024 deliveries and vehicle production numbers

Tesla just posted it car production for the first quarter and supply report for 2024. Here are the key numbers:

Total deliveries Q1 2024: 386,810
Total production Q1 2024: 433,371

Shares were down 7% in premarket trading.

Tesla doesn’t break out sales by model, but it said it produced 412,376 Model 3/Y vehicles and delivered 369,783. It made 20,995 of its other models and delivered 17,027.

In the same period last year, the electric car maker reported 422,875 deliveries and production of 440,808 vehicles. In the fourth quarter of 2023, Tesla reported 484,507 deliveries and production of 494,989 vehicles.

The deliveries are the closest approximation of sales reported by Tesla, but are not precisely defined in the company’s shareholder announcements.

Analysts had expected shipments of about 457,000 for the period ending March 31, according to an average of 11 estimates compiled by FactSet. Estimates ranged from a high of 511,000 deliveries to a low of 414,000 for the first quarter, with estimates updated in March ranging from 414,000 to 469,000 deliveries.

Independent auto industry researcher Troy Teslake, whose work is followed closely by Tesla fans, expected deliveries to reach around 409,000.

Tesla’s head of investor relations, Martin Vieja, sent a company-compiled consensus based on ratings to 30 analysts over the weekend to pick investors. The consensus, which was reviewed by CNBC, said analysts were expecting an average of 443,027 shipments and an average of 431,125 shipments for the quarter.

Tesla faced numerous challenges in the first quarter.

Attacks by the Houthi militia on shippers in the Red Sea disrupted supplies of Tesla components and temporarily halted production at the German factory outside Berlin in January. In March, environmental activists set fire to infrastructure near the same factory, depriving Tesla of sufficient operating power and again causing production to pause.

In China, Tesla has faced pressure from competition from domestic EV makers including BYD and newcomers such as phone maker Xiaomi. After weak sales of its Chinese-made cars in January and February, Tesla scaled back production of its Model 3 and Model Y at its Shanghai plant and reduced workers’ work schedules to five days a week from six and a half days.

In the US, reviews have been mixed for Tesla’s latest model – an angular pickup truck called the Cybertruck – which the EV maker only started selling in small numbers last December.

A series of rebates and incentives have proven less effective at driving sales volume than in the past for Tesla.

In the final days of the first quarter, Tesla CEO Elon Musk authorized all sales and service personnel to install and demonstrate the latest version of the company’s premium driver assistance system to customers in North America before handing over their cars. The system is marketed as Full Self-Driving, but does not make Tesla cars autonomous. They require a person at the wheel, ready to steer or brake at all times.

Tesla shares fell 29% in the first quarter, the biggest drop since late 2022 and the third-steepest quarterly plunge since the company’s 2010 IPO.

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