Sales of the company’s cars are flagging, but investors are focusing on the potential of autonomous driving and Mr. Musk’s ties to President-elect Donald J. Trump.

Elon Musk has been one of Labour’s most vocal antagonists since July’s election. The billionaire boss of Tesla and SpaceX hit out at Sir Keir Starmer’s handling of the summer riots, was snubbed over an international investor conference and has supported a petition for a new election.

A push to ship vehicles at the end of the year is common, however. Tesla's record quarterly delivery was almost 485,000 vehicles in last year's fourth quarter. But analysts, on average, think the company might come up just shy of Tesla's target this year, predicting 510,000 unit sales.

Shares of Tesla Inc. shed 1.76% to $454.13 Thursday, on what proved to be an all-around mixed trading session for the stock market, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.07% to 43,325.80 and the NASDAQ Composite Index falling 0.

Tesla stock declined Friday ahead of the auto maker’s fourth-quarter delivery announcement. Shares of the electric vehicle-maker fell 3.8% to $437.04, extending losses from Thursday, when the stock fell 1.