On Monday, Tesla’s stock dropped 3.7% as a result of the firm missing its third-quarter delivery targets.

Key figures:
Total deliveries Q3 2024: 462,890
Total production Q3 2024: 469,796

Investors were alarmed by the slight miss, even though analysts had projected 463,310 deliveries. Delivery data from Tesla is constantly monitored since it provides information about the company’s sales performance.

By contrast, Tesla produced 443,956 vehicles in the preceding quarter and 435,059 vehicles in the same period last year.

Rising Competition

Tesla is beginning to feel heat from regional players especially in china where byd, Geely, Li Auto, Nio are on an upward trend. The newest entrants into this space are Rivian while established auto giants like Ford and General Motors are simply stepping up their production of EVs. Some automakers have even reported substantial growth in the past year GM, for instance, had a 60% increase in EV sales in the last quarter but they only sold 32,100 cars, barely a fraction of Tesla’s market.

What’s Next for Tesla?

Tesla has not laid out specific numbers for 2024 that they have given guidance that the rate of increase in deliveries might not be as steep as 2023. The yet expected Cybertruck will be unveiled soon to join the fleet of EVs owned by the Tesla company. Tesla has also posted it has deployed 6.9 GWh of energy storage products this quarter.

Despite missing delivery estimates, Tesla’s stock surged 32% in the third quarter, erasing earlier losses, though it still lags behind the Nasdaq’s 19% growth for 2024.

Musk’s Influence and Brand Challenges

Still, Tesla’s US brand is in trouble, primarily due to CEO Elon Musk’s behaviour, including endorsing the former president Trump and posting provocative content on his latest communications app X (formerly Twitter). In any case, Tesla is still at the top of the EV sales ranking in the U.S., with Hyundai following close behind.

The results of the third quarter will be released later this month and investors will focus on profit margins. Before that, Tesla is to present a new robotaxi layout at a marketing seminar on October 10. Musk has been talking about full self-driving cars for a long time now, but competitors like Waymo and Pony.ai are already providing commercial robotaxi.