Business

Tesla: UK sales slump by £500m as profit slashed

By Jon Robinson,Kevin Dietsch

Copyright cityam

Tesla: UK sales slump by £500m as profit slashed

Sales at the UK arm of Elon Musk’s Tesla slumped by more than £500m as its profit was also slashed during its latest financial year.

The division, which is headquartered in Manchester, has reported a revenue of £1.94bn for 2024, new accounts filed with Companies House show.

The new figure comes after Tesla posted a revenue of £2.47bn for 2023.

The results have also confirmed that the company’s pre-tax profit also fell from £32m to £19.4m over the same period.

Tesla sales reverse after record 2023

Tesla said its all in revenue was “driven by product mix and incentive programs”.

From car sales, Tesla’s revenue fell from £1.9bn to £1.6bn while its earnings from selling energy generation and storage also declined from £336.3m to £135.6m.

A statement signed off by the board said: “The company continued on from last year’s record sales, with a solid number of cars sold, slightly exceeding prior year quantities.”

It added: “With the introduction of new products, we expect the number of vehicles delivered to grow in 2025.

“The rate of growth will depend on a variety of factors including the broader macroeconomic environment.”

For 2024, the UK arm of Tesla issued a dividend of £67m to its US parent company.

For the same financial year, the wider Tesla group reported a net income of $2.3bn (£1.83bn), a fall of more than 70 per cent.

However its sales rose from $96.8bn (£77.71bn) in 2023 to $97.7bn (£78.43bn).

Earlier this month, figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) showed that Tesla’s UK sales increased by 7.63 per cent in August compared to the same month in 2024.

Tesla’s sales were boosted by a general rise in the electric vehicle market in the UK despite a fall in overall auto sales across the country.

Elon Musk’s mega pay day

Earlier this month, Tesla CEO Elon Musk found himself at the centre of a corporate controversy after the firm’s board proposed a $1tn (£820bn) compensation package – the largest in corporate history.

The ten-year plan, designed to incentivise Musk to focus on his EV business, would reward the chief executive with 12 tranches of shares, if Tesla hits a series of staggering targets.

These include raising Tesla’s market value from $1tn to $8.5tn, producing 20 million vehicles, launching a million robotaxis, and delivering one million AI bots.

Critics have slammed the plan as excessive, especially given Musk’s immense personal fortune, currently estimated at $419bn.

The $1tn proposal came after Tesla’s board awarded Elon Musk $29bn (£21.7bn) in shares in August.

Last month, Tesla applied for a licence to supply electricity to UK homes and businesses, in a move that could see the world’s most famous electric car brand take on Britain’s energy giants as soon as next year.

If approved by Ofgem, the plan would allow Tesla to launch a retail energy business across England, Scotland and Wales – likely under the ‘Tesla Electric’ brand – and sell directly to households and companies.