Feb 4 () - Tesla sold less than half the number of battery-electric vehicles recorded by Chinese rival BYD in ​the UK last month, data from New Automotive showed ‌on Wednesday, pointing to mounting competitive pressures on the U. UK car sales of ‌Tesla plunged more than 57% over the year earlier to 647 vehicles in January, the research group said.

Tesla sales of China-made electric vehicles in January increased more than 9% compared to a year ago, representing a decent start to the year even as CEO Elon Musk seems to be shifting focus away from EV manufacturing to focus more on autonomous vehicles and humanoid robots. China-made Tesla Model 3 and Model Y vehicle sales in January totaled 69,129, including both domestic sales and exports, according to data released Wednesday by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). The CPCA is expected to announce Tesla's domestic January vehicle sales later in February.

The acquisition of xAI by SpaceX has Tesla shareholders dreaming about convergence—one mega-Musk company leading the charge into an AI future. Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI head Elon Musk shocked the investment world Monday when he announced that SpaceX had acquired xAI, creating what he called “the most ambitious, vertically-integrated innovation engine on (and off) Earth.” “Current advances in AI are dependent on large terrestrial data centers, which require immense amounts of power and cooling,” added Musk.

Tesla stock was little changed early Wednesday as investors waited for the company’s AI-trained humanoid robot, Optimus. Tesla stock was down 16 cents at $421.80 in premarket trading, while and futures were up 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively. Tesla’s Optimus robot won in a landslide, beating out the Cybercab, semi-truck, and stationary storage.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed late Monday that his rocket company SpaceX will merge with his artificial intelligence startup xAI. On Tuesday, a Tesla stock bull wrote there is now a "growing chance" that Tesla will eventually merge "in some form" with SpaceX/xAI in the coming 18 months. Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, who has long been bullish on Tesla and Musk's vision for the company, wrote early Tuesday that Tesla appears to be looking to combine its capabilities to create a "long-term AI juggernaut" to dominate the AI, robotics and energy space.