Tesla’s fourth-quarter net income fell 71% from a year ago when results were boosted by a one-time tax benefit. The latest results fell short of Wall Street forecasts.
The electric vehicle company run by Elon Musk said today that it made $2.31 billion (NZ$4 billion) from October through December, less than the $7.93 billion (NZ$14 billion) profit it posted in the same period in 2023.
Excluding one-time items in both periods, the Austin, Texas, company's profits rose 3% to 73 cents (NZ$1.29) a share, still not enough to meet analysts' estimate of 77 cents (NZ$1.36) a share.
Revenue in the quarter rose 2% to $25.7 billion (NZ$45.4 billion), less than Wall Street forecast for $27.1 billion (NZ$47.9 billion), according to FactSet.
The slight rise in revenue came after Tesla offered a series of incentives to drum up demand for its electric vehicles including low-interest loans and lower prices.
Earlier this month, Tesla said it sold 1.79 million vehicles in 2024, the first drop in more than a dozen years despite offers of 0% financing, free charging and low-priced leases. The fourth quarter showed signs of a rebound, though, with a record 495,570 vehicles sold.
Tesla has been losing market share in several countries as traditional car makers and other EV companies, such as China's BYD, offer customers alternatives.
In its letter to shareholders released today, Tesla said it was working to drive the cost of its vehicles lower, highlighting that one measure fell below $35,000 (NZ$61,854), the lowest in its history.
The company also said it hoped to offer completely unsupervised self-driving technology to Tesla customers later this year.
Tesla’s gross profit margin fell to 16.3% for the quarter, down 1.3 percentage points from a year earlier.
