>

They had to do markdowns due to the tax credits available in 2023.  Why would anyone buy in December when they could buy the same thing for cheaper a few weeks later?  Is anyone actually surprised?
Deliveries are the closest approximation of sales disclosed by Tesla. The company reported 405,278 total deliveries for the quarter and 1.31 million total deliveries for the year. The full year numbers represented a record for the Elon Musk-led automaker and growth of 40% in deliveries compared to 2021.
But according to a consensus of analysts’ estimates compiled by FactSet, as of Dec. 31, 2022, Wall Street was expecting Tesla to report around 427,000 deliveries for the final quarter of the year. Estimates updated in December, and included in the FactSet consensus, ranged from 409,000 to 433,000.

So the meat and potatoes is they basically came in 22,000 short of deliveries of expected deliveries. >

In December a load of Analysts expected them to come in low, and suggested a wide spread. They came in lower than that.