Tesla is enduring a rollercoaster of a ride with challenges being faced in the market with significant highs to sudden lows based on disappointing vehicle deliveries from the company and an underwhelming case of sales. So what does the future look like for the most optimistic automotive company to exist?
The reasoning behind the most recent plummet
Tesla delivered fewer electric vehicles than expected in the fourth quarter reporting its first decline in annual deliveries last Thursday as well as missing its quarterly delivery targets on multiple occasions in 2024. Despite the efforts to boost the demand of their electric vehicles by providing consumers with incentives, Tesla’s aging lineup of models has struggled to continuously attract buyers.
On Tuesday, TSLA (Tesla) stock dropped as much as 3% a shock drop reversing previous dramatic premarket gains since Trump’s election. The decline comes in after Donald Trump rolled back a pro-EV policy. Luckily for Tesla they were not the only electric vehicle stock that was affected with LCID (Lucid) dropping 7% and RIVN (Rivian) dropping by 5%.
Elon Musk poises no concern for the stock market of his company as despite the recent drop, since Trump’s election victory Tesla’s stock has surged more than 60% in a rally best known as the “Trump Trade”. Considering the Musk-Trump relationship, high hopes were in for Tesla based on strong political influence, although no influence will ever be able to change past deliveries. By the end of Tuesday’s trade, Tesla was down nearly 1%.
What is next for Tesla?
Musk’s 2025 Growth Outlook and His Ambitious Product Launches
Tesla has proven its delivery decline in both 2023 and 2024 with no new model releases since the cybertruck. In the quarterly results report, Tesla acknowledged the challenge faced by balancing production with overproduction and under-selling. With the development of newer models, the expectation of growth is high in the near term.
Elon Musk has revealed the groundbreaking products behind his high growth expectations with the Tesla Optimus robot already released with the plans to drive potential sales of up to 5 Million vehicles per year seeming to be a promising bet for Musk. Musk has shared great confidence in his plan of AI stating that the design of the prducts and the manufacturing techniques are above anything else that is currently present in the industry of technology.
Introducing Robovan and Robotaxi:
Musk has always been very clear about his vision of evolutionary technology and his love for artificial intelligence. His Vision behind the Robottaxi involves a dedicated self-driving vehicle with his futuristic design being designed for errands, and commuting like your own chauffeur except without the actual chauffeur…
The Robovan is derived from the same “self-driving” concept except for larger groups or even large food service on demand.
Musk has already released his Tesla Optimus but the sales for the robot aren’t promising.
The making of the Robovan and Robotaxi is yet to come to a launch event as Tesla has previously missed multiple deadlines regarding fully autonomous self-driving capabilities of their design although the company has a record of being overly optimistic about product launches and then underdelivering. So who knows when the actual launch and high-volume production for these new models may be, with current predictions being late 2025 or early 2026 with one close source suggesting, ‘Volume output is more likely to begin in 2026’. No promises.
The next few months will be crucial to Tesla’s ambitious vision for the future. It is clear these new models will be turning heads and reshaping the automotive landscape as the company must now navigate significant hurdles in terms of production timelines and profitability.
Written by: Eva Pocrnja
Published: 22nd January 2025