Automaker makes record sales
Tesla speaks of the “year of the breakthrough”
01/27/2022, 01:30 am
Tesla has been making profits since 2020 – and now really good ones: In the last quarter, the electric car manufacturer posted an increase of 2.3 billion dollars – more than eight times as much as in the same quarter last year. However, the outlook is clouded by global supply chain problems.
Despite the global chip crisis and problems in the supply chains, the US electric car manufacturer Tesla earned more in 2021 than ever before in a financial year. The bottom line, according to the group, was a profit of 5.5 billion dollars (4.9 billion euros) and thus 665 percent more than in the previous year.
Revenue climbed 71 percent to $53.8 billion, Tesla said after the US stock market closed in Austin. In the annual report, tech billionaire Elon Musk’s company described 2021 as a “breakthrough year for Tesla”. There is now no longer any doubt about the profitability of electric cars. Tesla had been in the red for a long time and only posted its first annual profit since the company was founded in 2003 in 2020.
Meanwhile, the group earns well: In the last quarter, the surplus rose by 760 percent year-on-year to $ 2.3 billion. Tesla increased sales by 65 percent year-on-year to $17.7 billion in the three months ended December. The company clearly exceeded expectations. Nevertheless, the share initially reacted after the trading session with significant price reductions.
The global supply chain problems are also forcing Tesla to cut back on production. “Our own factories have been running below capacity for several quarters as the supply chain is the main limiting factor,” the company said. This will “probably continue until 2022”. Nevertheless, Tesla confirmed the annual growth target of 50 percent: “We plan to expand our production capacities as quickly as possible,” explained the electric car pioneer.