Elon Musk will lead Tesla to record delivery

The company’s resilience during the pandemic that has plagued roads and reduced car sales around the globe has added to investor waste for the electric car maker. Its stock rose more than 700% last year.

CEO Elon Musk, via Twitter, described the numbers as a “huge milestone,” saying he was unsure in the early days of Tesla that the company would do it – a sentiment he had previously expressed.

Tesla has a tough job ahead of it in the coming months as it looks to introduce additional vehicle models and open new factories in Germany and Texas as part of Mr. Musk’s growth ambitions.

Tesla’s delivery last year was spurred by demand in China. Tesla began delivering cars from its new plant in Shanghai in late 2019. These sales helped offset a slowdown in production in the U.S., where Tesla had to close its Fremont, Calif., Plant for several weeks. start in March as local authorities imposed restrictions on businesses to delay the spread of the virus.

Tesla ended the year with 180,570 deliveries in the last quarter, a record surpassing the 139,593 vehicles that went to customers in the previous three months.

Delivery was largely controlled by a Model 3 car and a Model Y sports vehicle that began to reach customers in the midst of the pandemic. Tesla said it delivered 442,511 Model 3s and Model Ys last year and combined luxury S Model 57,039 and Model X SUVs combined. The company said its delivery figures were maintained and could be revised.

The rise in delivery has dampened Wall Street’s expectation for Tesla to post higher profits for the period and its first full year in the black when it reports earnings in the fourth quarter of 2020 in a few weeks. It followed Tesla’s five-quarter run in a series of profits that led to the company’s inclusion in the S&P 500 index last month.

Tesla’s performance through the pandemic was different from that of most competitors. Automated sales in much of the world last year such as Covid-19 and measures to halt the spread of the virus kept people at home, slowed production and put out a lot. from work. LMC Automotive researcher predicts that 2020 demand for vehicles will come in at around 14% below 2019 levels.

As sales recover across the globe, some are seeing a window of opportunity for electric vehicle manufacturers to gain market share. Hybrid and electric vehicles, the consulting firm Deloitte estimates, will account for about 12.1% of new car sales worldwide in 2025, compared to around 3.6% in 2020.

Tesla has growth ambitions, which last year became the world’s most valuable car maker. The company said it plans to roll out 20 million cars a year by 2030.

Volkswagen AG, the world’s top carmaker in 2019, sold about 11 million cars that year.

Tesla has not formally set a target for 2021 vehicle delivery, but Mr Musk said during the company’s third-quarter employment call it was likely to be close to £ 840,000 to a million cars. The company said on Saturday that it was now making Model Y SUVs in China “with delivery expected to begin soon. ”

Underpinning its plans, the company is working to expand its footprint to four facilities from two. Tesla is aiming this year to open a factory near Berlin, the first in Europe, and plant a second U.S. plant it is building outside of Austin, Texas. Mr Musk has also said that the company plans to start selling vehicles in India this year.

Tesla has historically struggled with the introduction of new vehicles and the expansion of production. Challenges facing the company this year include the introduction of new vehicle production lines for its electric lift truck and semitrailer truck. Mr Musk already has some of the new vehicle technologies that Tesla is introducing to the Model 3 car he will build in Germany that could delay it.

Write to Rebecca Elliott at [email protected]