Investing.com -- Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) delivered more of its electric vehicles than anticipated in the fourth quarter, the company said on Tuesday, although its performance was not enough to prevent Chinese rival BYD from unseating it as the world's top-selling manufacturer of battery-powered cars.
Deliveries at Elon Musk's EV maker registered 484,507 units in the final three months of 2023, topping Bloomberg consensus estimates of 483,173. The result pushed total annual deliveries up to 1.81 million vehicles, a 38% uptick compared to the prior year, thanks in part to a higher discounts and a recent drive to hand over more units before some variants lose a key U.S. tax credit.
Quarterly deliveries of the firm's Model 3 sedan and Model Y hatchback sport-utility vehicle came in at 461,538, while production numbers for these cars stood at 476,777.
Austin, Texas-based Tesla also manufactured approximately 1.85 million vehicles over the same period, marking a 35% year-on-year increase.
However, Tesla's better-than-expected deliveries were lower than the 526,400 units sold in the fourth quarter by Shenzhen-based BYD. The result made the Berkshire Hathaway-backed group the world's top seller of pure EVs.
"No major surprises here, but the slight [fourth-quarter] delivery beat and the achievement of Tesla’s 1.8 [million] 2023 volume goal will likely be viewed favorably amid the generally negative sentiment around EV demand," analysts from Citi said in a note. "From here, the focus will shift to Q4 automotive margins to gauge the price [versus] cost equation [...] and the company’s 2024 outlook."
Tesla is due to report its latest quarterly earnings on Jan. 24, with analysts expecting the company to forecast deliveries of 2.17 million this year. Shares in Tesla were slightly higher in early U.S. trading on Tuesday.
Senad Karaahmetovic contributed to this report.