Visitors a China-made Tesla Model Y electrical car on the Auto Shanghai 2021 present in Shanghai, China, on April 27, 2021.
Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Tesla on Sunday mentioned it delivered 308,600 electrical autos within the fourth quarter of 2021, beating its earlier single-quarter document in addition to analysts’ expectations. The automaker produced 305,840 totally electrical autos complete throughout the identical interval.
For the complete 12 months, Tesla delivered 936,172 autos, an 87% enhance versus 2020 when it reported its first annual revenue on deliveries of 499,647.
In the third quarter of 2021, car deliveries reached 241,300, Tesla’s earlier greatest quarter.
According to a consensus compiled by FactSet, Wall Street analysts had anticipated Tesla deliveries of 267,000 within the fourth quarter and 897,000 for all of 2021.
Deliveries are the closest approximation of gross sales reported by CEO Elon Musk’s electrical automotive firm.
Tesla combines supply numbers for its higher-priced Model S and X autos, and lower-priced Model 3 and Y autos. The firm doesn’t escape gross sales or manufacturing numbers by area.
Deliveries of its flagship Model S sedan and Model X falcon wing SUV represented just below 3% of Tesla’s complete deliveries in 2021. Model 3 and Model Y deliveries amounted to 296,850 within the ultimate quarter of 2021, and 911,208 for the complete 12 months.
Tesla makes Model 3 and Model Y autos at its manufacturing unit in Shanghai and in Fremont, California, however solely produces the Model X and Y in Fremont.
Shrugging off shortages
At Tesla’s 2021 annual shareholder assembly, Musk bemoaned a 12 months marked by provide chain issues that made it troublesome to acquire sufficient microchips and different unspecified components.
Throughout the second 12 months of a world COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, Tesla was capable of enhance car deliveries by ramping up manufacturing at its first abroad manufacturing unit in Shanghai, and by making technical modifications to the automobiles that it produces in Fremont, California, in order that it might ditch some components altogether.
Notably, Tesla introduced in May that it was eradicating radar sensors from Model 3 and Model Y autos constructed for purchasers in North America. Those automobiles now depend on a camera-based system to allow Tesla’s driver help options equivalent to traffic-adjusted cruise management or automated lane-keeping.
Looking forward
Musk has proclaimed that he desires to extend Tesla’s car gross sales quantity to twenty million yearly over the following 9 years. In pursuit of that progress, Tesla is poised to start out manufacturing of the Model Y crossover at its new manufacturing unit in Austin, Texas, this 12 months. It goals to open one other manufacturing unit in Brandenburg, Germany, after that.
The firm not too long ago moved its headquarters to Texas. The CEO introduced the plan in October, and Tesla made it official in early December.
Last month, Musk wrote on Twitter, the place he has about 68.4 million followers, “Giga Texas is a $10B+ funding over time, producing a minimum of 20k direct & 100k oblique jobs.” According to public filings, Tesla plans to spend $1.6 billion on the Austin, Texas, manufacturing unit in its first part now underway.
Despite progress and ambitions in Texas, Tesla has delayed plans to start out high-volume manufacturing of its Cybertruck, a distinctly angular pickup, till 2023. The firm’s Semi and revamped Roadster are nonetheless within the works, too.
Industry outlook
The firm now dominates battery electrical car gross sales within the U.S. and far of the world. But it’s anticipated to lose general market share as opponents convey out totally electrical fashions of their very own.
For instance, Toyota has informed buyers it can make investments $35 billion to convey 30 battery-electric autos out by 2030. Rivian not too long ago started deliveries of its battery-electric pick-up and SUV. And Ford stopped taking reservations for its F-150 Lightning electrical pickup truck after receiving 200,000 orders.
Tesla’s gross sales are nonetheless anticipated to rise with general electrical car demand, which is partly pushed by local weather regulation.
Hoping to slash air air pollution from transportation, states together with California and New York, are following within the footsteps of a number of European nations and cities, by setting a date by which they are going to ban gross sales of most gas-powered autos.
By 2030, about 24% of latest autos bought worldwide are more likely to be totally electrical, in accordance with forecasts from Alix Partners.
—CNBC’s Jessica Bursztynsky and Jordan Novet contributed reporting.
