Tesla just published its fourth-quarter vehicle production and delivery report for 2022.
Listed here are the important thing numbers.
Total deliveries Q4 2022: 405,278
Total production Q4 2022: 439,701
Total annual deliveries 2022: 1.31 million
Total annual production 2022: 1.37 million
Deliveries are the closest approximation of sales disclosed by Tesla. These numbers represented a latest record for the Elon Musk-led automaker and growth of 40% in deliveries year-over-year.
Nonetheless, the fourth quarter numbers fell shy of analysts’ expectations.
In keeping with a consensus of analysts’ estimates compiled by FactSet, as of Dec. 31, 2022 Wall Street was expecting Tesla to report deliveries around 427,000 for the ultimate quarter of the yr. Estimates updated in December, and included within the FactSet consensus, ranged from 409,000 to 433,000.
Those more moderen estimates were consistent with a company-compiled consensus distributed by Tesla investor relations Vice President Martin Viecha. That consensus, published by electric vehicle industry researcher @TroyTeslike, said that 24 sell-side analysts expected Tesla deliveries of about 417,957 on average for the quarter (and about 1.33 million deliveries for the complete yr).
Tesla began production at two latest factories this yr — in Austin, Texas and Brandenburg, Germany — and ramped up production in Fremont, California and in Shanghai, nevertheless it doesn’t disclose production and delivery numbers by region.
Within the fourth quarter of 2022, Tesla said deliveries of its entry level Model 3 sedan and Model Y crossover amounted to 388,131, while deliveries of its higher end Model S sedan and Model X SUV amounted to 17,147.
In its third-quarter shareholder presentation, Tesla wrote: “Over a multi-year horizon we expect to attain 50% average annual growth in vehicle deliveries. The speed of growth will rely on our equipment capability, factory uptime, operational efficiency and the capability and stability of the availability chain.”
The period ending Dec. 31, 2022 was marked by challenges for Tesla, including Covid outbreaks in China, which caused the corporate to temporarily suspend and reduce production at its Shanghai factory.
In the course of the fourth quarter, Tesla also offered steep price cuts and other promotions within the U.S., China and elsewhere with the intention to spur demand, although doing so could put pressure on its margins.
In a recent e-mail to Tesla staff, Elon Musk asked employees to “volunteer” to deliver as many cars to customers as possible before the tip of 2022. In his e-mail, Musk also encouraged employees to not be “bothered” by what he characterised as “stock market craziness.”
Shares of Tesla plunged by greater than 45% over the past six months.
In December, several analysts expressed concern about weakening demand for Tesla electric vehicles, that are relatively expensive compared with an increasing variety of hybrid and fully electric products from competitors.
Together with competitors starting from industry veterans Ford and GM to upstart Rivian, Tesla is poised to reap the advantages of Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act this yr, which incorporates incentives for domestic production and purchases of fully electric cars.
Retail shareholders and analysts alike attributed a few of Tesla’s falling share price in 2022 to a so-called “Twitter overhang.”
Musk sold billions of dollars value of his Tesla holdings last yr to finance a leveraged buyout of the social media business Twitter. That deal closed in late October. Musk appointed himself CEO of Twitter and has stirred controversy by making sweeping changes to the corporate and its social media platform.
Shares of Tesla began to rise again in the ultimate days of December 2022, in anticipation of record fourth-quarter and full-year deliveries.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect the right numbers for Model 3 and Y, and Model S and X vehicle deliveries for the fourth quarter of 2022.
