it has been an eventful year for auto manufacturers and their shares vehicle prices leapt in 2022 as a chip shortage first seen during the pandemic continued to weigh on legacy automakers according to michelle krebs executive analyst at cox automotive affordability will remain a concern in 2023 she added meanwhile krebs said electric vehicle makers businesses have continued to thrive stock analysts also see some of those names potentially doubling in the next year inflation has also pressured consumers this year but krebs said she doesnt believe a recession would affect vehicle sales much because the industry already felt sales pressures over the past few years given supply constraints the newvehicle market is a rich mans game krebs said citing supply restraints and automakers focus on higherend vehicles with larger profit margins as price drivers the dow jones us automobiles index has dropped more than 60 in 2022 it has spent much of december hitting one new 52week low after the next including its latest on friday choppy waters still ahead morgan stanley analyst adam jonas said in a dec 14 note to investors to expect a challenging 2023 for auto earnings given sliding demand deflation and unfavorable shifts in supply and demand for electric vehicles specifically jonas said he expects the seasonally adjusted annual rate of vehicle registrations to be up 7 yearoveryear in 2023 we see both the us economy and financing conditions as headwinds to auto demand outweighed by increased inventories and production he said the net impact of this in our view will be lower prices and increased volumes wells fargo analyst colin langan also said to expect choppy waters still ahead in a dec 14 note to clients the firm lowered its sales growth forecast for light vehicles which includes passenger cars to 2 from 7 in line with what he called a slower us sales recovery he also said companies could miss 2023 margin estimates due to continued inflationary pressures electric vehicles remain hot meanwhile electric vehicles have a tailwind from new legislation krebs said they were boosted by the infrastructure packages focus on charging stations and the inflation reduction acts tax credits for new electric vehicle purchases  within california she said gov gavin newsoms announcement that all passenger vehicles sold in the state will have zero emissions by 2035 also helped raise interest tesla has remained the star of the electric vehicle crowd with krebs noting the company surpassed bmw and mercedesbenz this year in total sales but she also noted startups like lucid are making splashy entrances while traditional automakers continue gaining ground krebs said tesla will likely see sales keep rising though its market share will inevitably shrink with more competition a november report from s  p global mobility found tesla made up 65 of newly registered electric vehicles in the us through the end of the third quarter thats a drop from the 71 seen in 2021 s  p anticipates teslas market share will decline to less than 20 by 2025 as the number of available electric vehicle models in the market triples in the same time period that adds to growing concerns over teslas stock which has dropped 65 this year however about 63 of analysts covering the stock still rate it buy or overweight the average price target on tesla shares is 26975 reflecting upside of 119 according to factset morgan stanleys jonas said the stocks current price puts it at an attractive entry point goldman sachs analyst mark delaney cut his price target but kept the buy rating citing softer supply and demand expected in the fourth quarter of 2022 and in 2023 the electric vehicle maker has had to cut prices on some models in 2022 bernstein analyst toni sacconaghi said earlier this month that more cuts may be needed  jonas also said to expect a cooler performance within the electric vehicle space he lowered his anticipated market share of electric vehicles for 2025 and 2030 to 11 and 26 respectively from the prior forecast of 13 and 32 meanwhile cantor fitzgerald began coverage of rivian on dec 20 with a 30 price target which marks nearly 57 upside from fridays close the firm pointed to its suv and truck selection backing from amazon and focus on building out its charging network as attractive qualities rivians shares have slid 81 in 2022 the average analyst has a target price of 4488 on the stock reflecting potential upside of 134 according to factset finally jonas said lucid a newer entrant to the space has been seeing lower reservations and more cancellations the stock has shed 82 in 2022 the average analyst has a target price of 1733 on lucid reflecting upside of more than 158 legacy automakers try to catch up ford and general motors are trying to gain ground within electric vehicle production ford ceo jim farley said the company overtook hyundai to take the no 2 spot for electric vehicle production behind tesla meanwhile mary barra gms ceo said previously that the company will try to overtake tesla gm shares are down 423 in 2022 while ford has fallen 453 jpmorgans ryan brinkman is overweight on both stocks while jonas is overweight on ford in addition to ferrari  rivian and tesla goldman sachs delaney said the firm currently prefers gm to ford given its head start on electric vehicles gm has opportunities to leverage its ev architecture and better target new markets ie commercial with brightdrop and regions eg europe he said in a dec 13 note —cnbcs michael bloom contributed to this story