Tesla has been overtaken by the Chinese company BYD, which is now the leader in sales of electric vehicles.

In the fourth quarter, Tesla Inc. delivered more cars than expected, but not enough to keep the Elon Musk-led company ahead of the Chinese company. BID Global electric vehicle (EV) sales company.

Tesla distributed 484 507 vehicles over the past three months, exceeding analysts’ average estimate of 483,173 deliveries. BID sold 526 409 Fully electric cars will be the new number one electric vehicle this quarter, mainly due to a much wider range of cheaper models in China.

Although Austin-based Tesla has exceeded its goal of delivering 1.8 million vehicles for the year, Elon Musk’s automaker is far from the optimistic scenario the South African-born businessman touted 12 months ago.

After the CEO told analysts the company had the potential to produce 2 million carsHowever, a series of price cuts failed to stimulate demand enough to maintain production.

Tesla shares fell as much as 1.6% shortly after regular trading began Tuesday in New York. The stock soared 102% last year, recovering from a record loss in 2022 tied to Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, the social media company now known as X.

The change in electric vehicle sales rankings reflects China’s growing weight in the global auto industry. Having overtaken the US, South Korea and Germany in recent years, China could overtake Japan as the world’s largest exporter of passenger cars by 2023.

Tesla generates more revenue and profit than BYD because it sells much more expensive cars and relies on just two models for most of its sales. The Model Y SUV and Model 3 sedan accounted for 95% of deliveries in the fourth quarter.

Musk expanded Tesla’s lineup late last year, starting sales of the Cybertruck several years later. The company did not say how many stainless-steel coated trucks it had produced and delivered through the end of the year.

The launch of the Cybertruck marked Tesla’s entry into the competitive US truck market. Musk warned that it could take 12 to 18 months for the company to reach production volume and generate positive cash flow with the vehicle, which is complex to manufacture and equipped with new technology.

While Tesla doesn’t break down quarterly vehicle sales by region, the U.S. and China are its largest markets. The company manufactures the S, X, 3 and Y models in Fremont, California, and the 3 and Y models in Shanghai. The company also produces the Model Y at its plants in Austin and outside Berlin.

(C) Bloomberg