Visitors looking at a China-made Tesla Model Y electric vehicle at Auto Shanghai 2021 in Shanghai, China on April 27, 2021.
Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Tesla am Sonntag said it delivered 308,600 electric vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2021, beating the previous record for a single quarter and analyst expectations. The automaker produced a total of 305,840 fully electric vehicles in the same period.
For the whole year, Tesla has delivered 936,172 vehicles, an 87% increase over 2020 when the company posted its first annual profit on deliveries of 499,647.
In the third quarter of 2021, vehicle deliveries reached 241,300, Tesla’s best quarter to date.
According to a consensus created by FactSet, Wall Street analysts had expected 267,000 Tesla deliveries in the fourth quarter and 897,000 for the whole of 2021.
The deliveries are closest to the sales reported by the CEO Elon Musks Electric car company.
Tesla summarizes the delivery figures of the higher-priced vehicles Model S and X as well as the cheaper vehicles Model 3 and Y. The company does not break down sales or production numbers by region.
Deliveries of the flagship Model S sedan and the Falcon Wing SUV Model X accounted for almost 3% of Tesla’s total deliveries in 2021. Model 3 and Model Y deliveries totaled 296,850 in the last quarter of 2021 and 911,208 for the full year.
Tesla manufactures Model 3 and Y vehicles at its Shanghai and Fremont, Calif., Facility, but only manufactures the X and Y models in Fremont.
Shake off bottlenecks
At Tesla’s annual shareholder in 2021 meeting, Musk lamented a year of supply chain problems that made it difficult to source enough microchips and other unspecified parts.
During the second year of a global coronavirus pandemic, Tesla increased vehicle deliveries by ramping up production at its first overseas factory in Shanghai and making engineering changes to the cars it produced in Fremont, California, some parts together.
Specifically, Tesla announced in May that it Remove radar sensors of Model 3 and Model Y vehicles built for customers in North America. These cars now rely on a camera-based system to enable Tesla’s driver assistance functions such as traffic-dependent cruise control or automatic lane keeping.
looking ahead
Musk has announced plans to increase Tesla’s vehicle sales to 20 million annually over the next nine years. To achieve that growth, Tesla is poised to begin production of the Model Y crossover at its new Austin, Texas factory this year. The aim is to open another factory in Brandenburg, Germany, afterwards.
The company recently relocated its headquarters to Texas. The CEO announced the plan in October, and Tesla made it official in early December.
Last month, Musk wrote on Twitter, with approximately 68.4 million followers, “Giga Texas is an investment of more than $ 10 billion over time that will create at least 20,000 direct and 100,000 indirect jobs.” According to public filings, Tesla plans to spend $ 1.6 billion on the Austin, Texas factory, which is now in phase one.
Despite advances and ambitions in Texas, Tesla has postponed plans to start mass production of its Cybertruck, a distinctly angular pickup truck, until 2023. The company’s semi and redesigned roadster are also still in the works.
Industry outlook
The company now dominates battery electric vehicle sales in the United States and much of the world. However, it is expected to lose market share overall as competitors launch their own all-electric models.
For example, Toyota told investors it will be Invest 35 billion dollars To bring 30 battery electric vehicles to market by 2030. Rivian recently started deliveries his battery-electric pick-up and SUV. and ford no more reservations for his F-150 flash Electric pickup after 200,000 orders.
Tesla sales are still expected to grow with overall demand for electric vehicles, which is in part driven by climate regulation.
Hoping to reduce air pollution from traffic, including states California and new York, are following in the footsteps of several European countries and cities by setting a date by which the sale of most gas-powered vehicles will be banned.
By 2030, Alix Partners predicts that around 24% of new vehicles sold worldwide will be fully electric.
– CNBC’s Jessica Bursztynsky and Jordan Novet contributed to the coverage.