Tesla reported its annual production and delivery statistics for the year, and says it hit its 2023 target of delivering 1.8 million vehicles, thanks in large part to sales of the Model 3 and Model Y. That’s another impressive year-over-year increase for the brand.
Of the 1,808,581 vehicles Tesla delivered in 2023, 1,739,707 were the Model 3 and Y. Other models, including the S, the X, and a handful of Cybertrucks and Semis, amounted to just 68,874 deliveries in all.
Its strong deliveries amount to an increase of 38 percent over 2022. However, the automaker has previously said that it expects sales to increase by a smaller amount in 2024. Per Reuters, it plans to deliver 2.2 million vehicles in the coming year, which would be an increase of 22 percent over 2023.
Q4 2023
Despite admitting that growth would be slowing a bit in 2024, CEO Elon Musk told CNBC in a Q3 earnings call that he still expected the company to “grow very rapidly, much faster than any other car company on Earth, by far.”
During the same call, Musk said that he expected the Model Y crossover to become “the bestselling car on Earth, but not just in revenue, but in unit volume,” for the upcoming year. Whether the Model Y can achieve that remains to be seen, but it appears that the automaker may lose its position as the top-selling EV manufacturer on the planet in 2024.
Read: In 2011, Musk Laughed At BYD. In 2024 It’s Set To Overtake Tesla As World’s Top EV Brand
Although Tesla beat market expectations in Q4, it was still behind China’s BYD, which delivered 526,409 vehicles in the last three months of the year. Despite its ascendancy, BYD was still behind Tesla in terms of EV deliveries for 2023, getting 1.57 million into the hands of customers.
YTD 2023
While that may be a blow to the American company’s image, CFO Vaibhav Taneja was more concerned about profitability than volume. At the end of Q3, he said that that Tesla is focused on “growing our volume in a very cost-efficient manner.”
In order to achieve that, the company is engaging in traditional advertising campaigns for the first time ever. Historically, Tesla has relied on events, giveaways, and engagement with social media influencers to gain attention, but the use of more familiar ads is perhaps a sign that it is approaching mainstream status. It has also updated the Model 3, and reports suggest that it will also give the Model Y a major update in the coming year.
