In the second quarter of 2022, Tesla delivered 254,695 electric cars, compared to more than 310,000 in the first three months of the year. The global shortage of semiconductors and the rebound of the Covid-19 pandemic in China are weighing on the firm.
Things get complicated for Tesla. After a promising first quarter with a profit of 3.3 billion dollars, the manufacturer of electric vehicles did not hide its ambitions for 2022. Elon Musk hoped that his group would produce up to 1.5 million vehicles, a jump 60% in one year. Alas, the global shortage of semiconductors and the rebound of the Covid-19 pandemic in China have weighed on the North American firm.
In the second quarter, Tesla delivered 254,695 electric cars, compared to more than 310,000 in the first three months of the year. Admittedly, the number of deliveries increased by 26.5% over one year, but it ended below analysts’ forecasts, which had forecast 256,520 in the first quarter, according to a consensus established by Street Account (FactSet). In detail, 238,533 Model 3 or Y were delivered, and only 16,411 Model S or X. Despite this more difficult quarter than the first, Tesla specifies that “June 2022 was the highest vehicle production month” of its history.
New factories that have not yet reached cruising speed
If the automaker can count on new factories in Austin (United States) and Berlin (Germany), they are not yet able to produce enough vehicles and batteries to amortize their operating costs. In a video interview with Tesla Owners of Silicon ValleyElon Musk acknowledged that these two factories “lose billions of dollars”.
Launched last March, the production of the Model Y in the Berlin Gigafactory recently reached 1,000 weekly copies. However, this symbolic bar should have been crossed at the end of April. If Berlin maintains this cap of 1,000 cars/week, nearly 50,000 vehicles will be added to Tesla’s annual production. This surplus of Model Y would come to relieve the Gigafactory of Shanghai, which could from then on concentrate on the Chinese market and the surrounding areas. In the long term, the manufacturer’s objective is to increase its deliveries by 50% per year on average.
Like all manufacturers in the sector, Tesla is suffering from a delicate context. According to a US study, the disruptions caused by the pandemic (supply chains, raw material prices, record prices, etc.) have contributed to a historic increase in vehicle difficulties, of around 11% compared to 2021. Thus, Tesla models experience an average of 226 problems per 100 vehicles.