Tesla announced Saturday that it delivered 310,000 vehicles in the first quarter, increasing about 68 percent from the same period in 2021. However, Tesla's sales fell short of projections, which called for the company to produce 312,000 cars. However, the sales surge occurred despite Tesla's ongoing battle with a global shortage of computer chips and other components.
On Saturday, the Austin, Texas-based manufacturer of electric vehicles and solar panels released its production and delivery figures. From October to December of 2021, the previous quarterly delivery record of 308,600 automobiles was set. In the first quarter of last year, Tesla shipped 185,000 automobiles.
Nearly all automakers have been affected by the global computer chip shortage, but Tesla appears to have fared better than the rest of the industry. Due to supply and logistics challenges, Wedbush analysts anticipate 20,000 to 25,000 sales that would have occurred in the first quarter have now been pushed into the second quarter. Last year, the corporation delivered a total of 936,000 automobiles, a rise of 87% above 2020 figures.
In February, the business stated that it anticipates sales to increase by 50% annually, implying that approximately 1.4 million vehicles will be delivered this year. However, CEO Elon Musk stated on a conference call with analysts that the chip shortage would prevent the business from releasing any new models this year.
Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas stated in an investor note earlier this week that he expects 320,000 to 325,000 deliveries from January to March, which is higher than most analysts' estimates.
“Given extraordinary supply chain pressures and Tesla’s continued significant price increases, we believe a path to (full year) deliveries of over 1.4 million units would be impressive, but in our minds, difficult in isolation to move the stock from here,” Jonas said.
Tesla's stock finished at $1,084.59 on Friday. Tesla stock has soared in recent weeks as Elon Musk celebrated the company's first deliveries from its new Berlin production, assuaging investor concerns about the EV maker's ability to obtain the necessary approvals from the German government. Late in the first quarter, the company launched a new factory in Germany, and last year, it began producing the Model Y small SUV at a new factory near Austin, Texas.
Giga Shanghai
According to an internal note, Tesla has informed workers and suppliers that production at its Shanghai factory would not resume on Monday as planned. The American manufacturer hoped to resume production on Monday, citing two sources, as it expected to see its first group of workers released from a city-imposed lockdown to tackle a surge of Covid-19 infections.
Workers at Giga Shanghai Driving New Cars Out
Monday's manufacturing plans, on the other hand, have been cancelled, according to the message, which did not specify why or when the company expected activities to resume.
Tesla's Shanghai facility, which makes cars for the Chinese market and serves as a vital export centre, has been shut down since March 28 after the government imposed a two-stage lockdown that began east of the Huangpu River, where the factory is located.
Tesla had planned to shut down for only four days, but production plans for Friday and Saturday were cancelled after police tightened travel restrictions in the city's eastern part. Almost the entire city of Shanghai is currently under lockdown.
Since the factory began operations in late 2019, the current shutdown is one of the longest. According to one of the sources, Tesla's Shanghai facility produces 6,000 Model 3 and 10,000 Model Y automobiles every week.
“This was an *exceptionally* difficult quarter due to supply chain interruptions and China zero-COVID policy,” its Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said in a tweet on Saturday.
