Tesla Inc. recorded its first-ever drop in annual shipments from its Shanghai plant since the facility started mass production in 2020, a clear sign of the intensifying local competition and lukewarm global demand.

The automaker run by Elon Musk delivered 916,660 electric vehicles from Shanghai, the location of its first factory outside of the U.S., in 2024, down 3% from the year prior, according to preliminary data released by China’s Passenger Car Association on January 3.

And, despite a slew of year-end incentives, Tesla’s shipments in December 2024 from the facility remained flat year-on-year, totaling 93,766 China-built Model 3 electric sedans and Model Y sport utility vehicles.

The numbers are another disappointing milestone for Tesla, whose annual global sales dropped for the first time in over a decade.

Investors have started to cast doubt on Musk’s sales growth objective of 20%-30% in 2025, counting in the potential roll-back of EV tax credits under the incoming Trump administration and continued competition from Chinese rivals including BYD Co.

Globally, Tesla sold 1.79 million EVs in 2024, slightly less than what it delivered in 2023 and also below analysts’ consensus estimate. BYD, which stopped making vehicles powered by fossil fuels entirely in 2022, sold 1.76 million battery-powered cars. Including hybrids, that figure was 4.25 million passenger vehicles.

New-energy vehicle wholesale deliveries more broadly in China for December 2024 were estimated at 1.5 million units, up 35% year-on-year, the PCA data show.