Written by / Ma Xiaolei
Editor/ Qian Yaguang
Design / Shi Yuchao
Source/New York Times By Neal E. Boudette
Tesla is off to a good start in 2022.
On January 2, Tesla released a report saying that in 2021, in this special year when chip shortages disrupted global car production, the company's sales still rose sharply by 87%, delivering 936,000 vehicles. In the fourth quarter alone, the company delivered more than 308,000 vehicles, up 71 percent from the same period last year.
That achievement crushed previous Wall Street analysts' forecasts that deliveries were about 266,000 units in the fourth quarter and about 855,000 units for the full year. This is mainly due to the hot sales of the Model 3 and Model Y models.
As soon as the report came out, Tesla's stock price rose again on January 3, rising 13.5% and soaring to $1199.78 per share. The company's market capitalization also rose by $144 billion. Musk's personal wealth soared $30 billion in just one day.
Wedbush Securities described the company's fourth-quarter performance as "jaw-dropping." Daniel Ives, an analyst at the agency, wrote in a note to investors: "These numbers are difficult to break, and while there are many competitors in the electric vehicle space, Tesla continues to dominate market share, as evidenced again in the fourth quarter." ”
Despite the global chip shortage, Tesla's sales have increased. Chips are the brains of a variety of electronic devices, including engine controllers and touch screens. Chip shortages have forced most auto plants to shut down for weeks, unable to produce vehicles as planned.
In July, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company was overcoming shortages by switching to more accessible chips, writing new instructions or embedding firmware into chips. Tesla can adopt this strategy because the company's vehicle components are mostly controlled by software.
Tesla didn't announce deliveries across countries, but its recent growth has been largely driven by sales in Europe and China.
Tesla ends 2021
In 2021, Tesla ended perfectly with full-year sales growth.
Tesla's stock price and profits have climbed steadily during a year that has been significant to the company, and to maintain its growth momentum, the company will open new factories in Austin, Texas, and Berlin, Germany.
In October, Tesla's market capitalization exceeded $1 trillion for the first time, surpassing the sum of 11 automakers including General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen, Stellantis, and BMW.
On December 31, Tesla shares closed at $1,056.78 per share, up from less than $700 at the end of 2020. The increase in stock prices was mainly due to the increase in sales volume and profit.
In the third quarter, Tesla's profit was $1.6 billion, double the company's full-year profit in 2020, the company's first profitable year.
At the same time that the stock price soared to the point of being jaw-dropping, Musk began selling his shares in large numbers after a fan vote on Twitter, in part to pay taxes. Several times he said he had sold enough but continued to sell.
Musk sold $16 billion in Tesla stock, including 22.8 million options, as part of his compensation and bonus package.
Tesla has said it hopes to maintain a 50 percent annual sales growth rate in the next few years, and hopes to plant in Austin and Berlin. The two plants are expected to start producing the Model Y soon.
At the same time, the quality of Tesla's products is still erratic. On December 30, Tesla reported to federal regulators that it would recall more than 475,000 vehicles due to two safety-affecting failures.
One is that the front hood locks are misaligned, causing the hood to suddenly pop open on its own; the other is that the rearview camera line will be damaged during the opening and closing of the hood. A day later, the Chinese market also announced a recall.
Learn about supply chain crises
How did the supply chain crisis spread?
The initial outbreak triggered a switch in supply chain problems. Global supply chains are complex and in the midst of dramatic change. The crisis can generally be traced back to the economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, massive layoffs and production stoppages.
Insufficient volume of transportation. In the early days of the outbreak, manufacturers and shipping companies thought demand would drop sharply as fewer goods were made and people didn't have as much spare money on their hands. But it turns out to be wrong, and demand for certain items will surge.
For example, the demand for protective equipment has surged. At the beginning of 2020, surgical masks and protective clothing were suddenly in short supply. Most of these goods are made in China. As Chinese factories ramp up production, cargo ships begin to ship equipment around the world.
The demand for durable goods is increasing. The pandemic has put people's money no longer on eating out and attending events, but on office furniture, electronics and kitchen utensils, mostly bought online. This consumption is also encouraged by the U.S. government's stimulus program.
Tight supply chains. The factory's cargo quickly flooded U.S. ports. Inflated orders further outpaced the supply of containers, with container transportation costs from Shanghai to Los Angeles skyrocketing 10-fold.
Labor shortages. At the same time, businesses across the economy are struggling to hire workers, including the truck drivers needed to get goods to warehouses. Even if employers take measures to raise wages, labor shortages persist, exacerbating the scarcity of goods.
Shortage of components. The shortage of one item led to a chain reaction. For example, the lack of chips has forced major automakers to cut production while delaying the production of medical devices.
A long-standing problem. Businesses and consumers respond to shortages by ordering in advance and stockpiling, but this puts more strain on the system.
These issues are a key factor in rising inflation and are likely to persist for months. In the United States, inflation is reaching its highest level in decades.
Driver assistance systems
In addition, Tesla and its Autopilot driver assistance system have been closely watched by U.S. safety regulators. Tesla vehicles had multiple collisions with other vehicles while the Autopilot system was turned on, including some fatal accidents.
The company continues to promote Autopilot, a system that can perform some of the driver's steering, braking and acceleration tasks. Tesla has also introduced a more advanced self-driving assistance system, FSD (full name Full Self Driving, currently equivalent to L2 level, Editor's Note), which sells for $10,000 but has so far only allowed a specific set of customers to test.
In August, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) launched a formal investigation into how Autopilot recognizes and can identify objects on the road. In particular, it investigated 11 tesla crashes into emergency vehicles in which the emergency vehicles stopped on the road and turned on the double flash.
The agency is also investigating more than two dozen other traffic accidents involving Tesla Autopilot. Since the first accidents occurred in 2016, eight of them have resulted in a total of 10 deaths.