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| Photo by James Bareham / The Verge |
Tesla Inc reported quarterly record shipments on Sunday that far exceeded Wall Street estimates and exceeded a global chip shortage as China’s production spiked.
It was the sixth straight quarter that the world’s most valuable automaker posted record deliveries.
Musk delivered 308,600 vehicles in the fourth quarter, far more than analysts’ forecast of 263,026 vehicles.
Tesla’s deliveries from October to December were around 70% above the previous year and almost 30% above the record deliveries of the previous quarter. “Excellent work from the Tesla team around the world!” Musk wrote on Twitter.
His electric car company increased production in China despite increased competition and regulatory pressure from consumer complaints about product safety. Tesla supplies models made in China to Europe and some Asian countries. On an annual basis, the automaker boosted its deliveries by 87% from a year earlier to 936,172 vehicles in 2021
Musk said in October last year that Tesla will be able to grow at an annual rate of more than 50% for “an extended period of time.
NEW FACTORY ”.
Ventures. Said on Sunday. “The first is that the demand for their products is skyrocketing. Second, they are doing an excellent job meeting that demand, ”he said.
Munster said he expected Tesla deliveries to climb to 1.3 million vehicles this year despite headwinds in production at its new factories, including vehicle technologies and new equipment.
Tesla Chief Financial Officer Zachary Kirkhorn said in October that it was difficult to predict how quickly the company will be able to boost production at new factories in Texas and Berlin, which will use new vehicle technologies and new teams.
Tesla said in October that it aimed to build its first production cars at both facilities by the end of 2021, but it is not known whether it met that target. Tesla did not respond to a question from Reuters about the plants. Its Berlin factory had initially been scheduled to begin production last summer.
Deutsche Bank said in a report on Friday that it expected Tesla to make nearly 1.5 million vehicle deliveries this year, although chip shortages remain a risk to production.
In 2020 automakers cut chip orders as the pandemic and lockdown measures hurt demand, but Tesla never lowered its production forecast with suppliers to support its rapid growth plan that helped it beat chip shortages, Musk said.
Unlike most automakers, the software has also been reprogrammed internally to use less scarce chips, according to Musk.Musk, who previously said “2021 was the year of super insane supply chain scarcity,” said in October that he was optimistic that these issues would pass on supply chain costs.
Tesla hit more than $ 1 trillion in market cap in October after car rental company Hertz announced it had ordered 100,000 of its vehicles.
The stock lost some ground after Musk wrote on Twitter in November that he was considering selling 10% of his stake in Tesla.
Overall, Tesla shares gained 50% last year.