German automaker Audi delivered around 1.7 million vehicles worldwide last year, marking a drop of about 12%, allowing American EV giant Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) to overtake it in global vehicle sales.
What Happened: Audi pinned the decline in overall deliveries to challenging economic conditions, a competitive market, and limited availability of parts.
Though the company launched new models, including all battery electric vehicles, in 2024, they are only gradually having an impact on global sales, the automaker said. The company witnessed a 21% decline in Germany, a 13% drop in North America, and an 11% drop in China.
Audi EV Sales: Out of its overall deliveries, over 164,000 were fully electric models, marking a decline of 8% as compared to 2023, the company said.
“Challenging economic conditions and the in transparency in terms of government incentive structures are currently causing a certain reluctance to buy affecting the entire industry, especially when it comes to fully electric vehicles,” Marco Schubert, Board Member for Sales and Marketing, said in a statement.
Why It Matters: While a fall in EV sales managed to drag Audi’s overall deliveries lower, Tesla overtook it in global vehicle deliveries by delivering about 1.79 million vehicles in 2024.
Tesla’s deliveries fell by about 1.1% in 2024 as compared to the 1,808,581 deliveries reported for 2023, marking its first fall in annual vehicle deliveries. However, the company still managed to overtake its rival and legacy brand Audi.
Tesla shared its achievement over Audi in a post on social media platform X and wrote, “Thank you to our owners around the world – you rock!”
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