Tesla Toppled As Global EV Leader, Rivian's Q4 Deliveries Disappoint, Fisker Goes The Dealer Way And More: Biggest EV Stories Of The Week

Shares of electric vehicle manufacturers fell across the board in the week that ended on Jan. 5 amid the pullback in equity markets in the new year. Fourth-quarter deliveries report from market leader Tesla, Inc. TSLA failed to rev up the space as a risk-averse mood and industry-specific fundamental issues weighed it down.

Here are the key events that happened in the EV space during the week:

Tesla Q4 Sales, Recalls And More: Tesla hit the 1.8-million-unit delivery goal for 2024 as the company sold 484,507 EVs in the fourth quarter. The fourth-quarter sales exceeded the Wall Street consensus and The Street’s whisper numbers. The outperformance was viewed as positive by analysts, but most remained cautious regarding the core auto margin trajectory and the 2024 deliveries guidance, which will be known when the company reports its full-year results on Jan. 24.

One noteworthy news item that made waves was Tesla ceding its EV crown as the biggest manufacturer in terms of volume to the Warren Buffett-backed Chinese EV manufacturer BYD Co. Ltd. BYDDY BYDDF. Tesla enthusiasts, however, underplayed the development and said BYD won’t be able to produce high-quality EVs that can sell in Europe and North America.

CEO Elon Musk clarified on the Tesla-BYD comparison and said, “Tesla is an AI/robotics company that appears to many to be a car company.”

Tesla also had to deal with negative headlines regarding the recall of its EVs in China. On Friday, a release from China's State Administration for Market Regulation showed that the company was recalling 1.6 million vehicles in China due to concerns related to the misuse of its autosteer features. The recall was not a physical one and the issue would be rectified by over-the-air updates, the release said.

Rivian Not Out Of Woods Yet: Irvine, California-based Rivian Automotive, Inc. RIVN, which has pulled away from the rest of the startup crowd, released a mixed deliveries report this week. The company’s full-year and fourth-quarter production exceeded expectations. Rivian delivered 13,972 EVs in the fourth quarter compared to the consensus estimate of 14,114 units and the third-quarter delivery of 15,600 units.

Future Fund co-founder Gary Black shrugged off the deliveries beat as not too significant. For supply-constrained startups like Rivian, production numbers matter more, he suggested. The fund manager sees the 2024 consensus production estimate for Rivian as too low.

Fisker To Adopt Dealer Distribution Model: Startup Fisker, Inc. FSR has preferred to go with the dealer-distribution model, ditching the direct-to-consumer sales strategy followed by most EV manufacturers. The company said it is developing a Dealer Partnership in North America while pursuing a hybrid model in Europe. This is in line with the company’s asset-light strategy.

“The Dealer Partnership model combines the goal of offering our customers no-haggle pricing on Fisker vehicles (where permitted) while also providing our dealer partners with larger market territories, so they can maintain pricing without concern for local competition,” the company said.

See Also: Best Electric Vehicle Stocks

Ford Tinkers With F-150 Lightning Prices: Legacy automaker Ford Motor Co. F confirmed to Benzinga via email that it is implementing changes to the 2024 F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck. While reducing prices of two high-end Platinum models, both of which do not qualify for the federal tax credit, the company hiked prices for most other variants. The price changes came as the company is struggling with its EV transition and faces competition from Tesla’s Cybertruck.

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GM To Compensate For Loss Of EV Tax Credit: After the Treasury Department booted some EVs from its eligibility list for the $7,500 tax subsidy on Jan. 1, General Motors Corp. GM said this week it would incentivize buyers to compensate them for the loss of the subsidy. Incidentally, GM edged out Ford to be the second-biggest EV manufacturer in the U.S., as the former sold 75,585 battery EVs in 2023 compared to Ford’s 72,608 units.

The KraneShares Electric Vehicles and Future Mobility Index ETF KARS ended Friday’s session up 0.02% at $24.28, according to Benzinga Pro data. For the week, the ETF fell -5.53%.

Read Next: Tesla Analysts Call Deliveries Beat A ‘Major Achievement,’ But One Bear Points Out Red Flags

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