A record-breaking Tesla report, despite many obstacles

Electric car manufacturer Tesla Inc. (TSLA) has published a report for the first quarter, which pleased investors. The difficult situation in China did not prevent Tesla from getting record revenue and profit, and the company’s brand will now cause even more concern among competitors. In the first quarter, Tesla, like many other automakers, faced several problems.

This is a global shortage of semiconductors, a shutdown of production at a factory in Shanghai and disruptions in supply chains. In addition, according to the management of Tesla, in recent months, prices for some types of raw materials have increased several times. Even in such conditions, Tesla increased revenue by 80.5% year-on-year to $18.75 billion, surpassing Wall Street expectations.

Earnings per share increased two and a half times to $3.22. In the automotive segment, gross margin improved to 30%, global shipments increased by 67.8% to a record 31,0048 vehicles. Actual production decreased compared to the fourth quarter of 2021 because of the problems listed above. But the demand for Tesla cars remains high, and this brand is one of the few that can afford to create a queue. People who ordered a Tesla car often chose the brand and do not change their decision because of the additional expectation.

Now the delivery of some cars is planned no earlier than in 2023. Demand for Tesla remains high. Currently, most of the deliveries (95%) comprise Model 3 and Model Y cars, which were conceived as more affordable and easy to assemble, in comparison with Model S and Model X. The head of Tesla, Elon Musk, is confident that despite the problems with production, in 2022 the goal of increasing the volume of production of cars by 50% is achievable, compared with 2021.

This means the production of 1.5 million cars per year. Even if the company cannot achieve this, its achievements this year are still impressive. As for one of Tesla’s crucial developments, autopilot Elon Musk admitted that working on its improvement turned out to be much more difficult than expected. Probably the principal obstacle is that robots still have to share roads with unpredictable people. However, Tesla is still aiming for the launch of the Robotaxi in 2024.