After the US stock market on January 26, Eastern Time, Tesla (TSLA.US) released its fourth quarter and 2021 financial reports, and all indicators exceeded expectations.
According to the financial report, Tesla's revenue in 2021 was $53.823 billion, an increase of 71% year-on-year; net profit attributable to shareholders reached $5.519 billion (about 35 billion yuan), an increase of 665% year-on-year, and the annual profit reached a record. In other words, Tesla will make nearly 100 million yuan per day in 2021.
In 2021, Tesla delivered 936,000 vehicles worldwide, of which Tesla China accounted for 51.7%. Tesla expects deliveries to increase by more than 50 percent in 2022.
However, Tesla also pointed out that the supply chain is still a limiting factor affecting the delivery of the company's vehicles, and the supply chain restrictions may continue until 2022.
It is worth mentioning that with the increase in car sales, Tesla no longer relies on carbon emission credit income to "support the family".
After the earnings report, Tesla executives explained the progress of new factories, 2022 deliveries, Cybertruck (electric pickups), $25,000 new cars, insurance and other key issues of concern to the outside world.
Delivery, revenue, and profitability have reached new highs
But supply chain constraints are likely to persist into 2022
In the face of challenges such as the epidemic, supply chain bottlenecks, and lack of cores, tesla deliveries exceeded the 900,000 mark for the first time in 2021, reaching 936,000 vehicles, an increase of 87% over the same period last year, slightly lower than the company's previous commitment of 1 million vehicles. Among them, the delivery volume in the fourth quarter was 313,000 units, achieving quarterly sales of 300,000 units for the first time.
Tesla deliveries (in millions)
Tesla said in its earnings report that 2021 is a breakthrough year for the company, and there should be no more questions about whether the production of electric vehicles can be profitable. Tesla deliveries increased by 87% in 2021, achieving the highest quarterly operating margin among all production OEMs, which already shows that electric vehicles are more marketable than fuel vehicles.
Thanks to the significant increase in deliveries, Tesla's revenue and net profit hit quarterly and annual highs. Revenue for 2021 was $53,823 million, up 71% year-over-year, and net income attributable to shareholders was $5,519 million, up 665% year-over-year. Fourth-quarter revenue increased 65% year-over-year to $17.72 billion and net income attributable to shareholders increased 760% year-over-year to $2.321 billion.
Key financial figures
Tesla said the increase in operating profit was mainly affected by the following factors: further reduced cost of bicycles, increased car deliveries, and increased profitability of car rentals, services and other businesses. However, sales overheads related to raw material, merchandise, logistics and expedited costs, warranty and individual batch vehicle recall costs, and $340 million payroll tax related to the exercise of THE 2012 CEO equity incentive option increased.
Tesla's GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) automotive gross margin in the fourth quarter reached 30.6%, setting a new quarterly high for Tesla.
It is worth mentioning that carbon credit revenue is no longer the backbone of Tesla. Carbon credit trading generated $314 million in revenue in the fourth quarter, down 22 percent year-over-year and accounting for just 1.8 percent of total revenue. In the first quarter of last year, this part of the revenue was even higher than the net profit of the current quarter. With the increase in sales, Tesla's car sales revenue accounted for a significant increase in the group's business revenue. After deducting points revenue, Tesla GAAP Auto also had a gross profit margin of 29.2% in the fourth quarter.
Tesla plans to increase production capacity as soon as possible, and expects vehicle deliveries to grow at an average annual rate of 50% in the coming years. "The specific growth rate depends mainly on the capacity of our equipment, the efficiency of our operations, and the capacity and stability of our supply chain. With supply chains becoming a major limiting factory, our plants have been operating below capacity for several consecutive quarters, and this is likely to continue in 2022. ”
New plants in Berlin and Austin progress
Deliveries expected to increase by more than 50% in 2022
In a conference call after the earnings report, Tesla interpreted the earnings report and answered questions from analysts.
The commissioning of the two new plants is the focus of investors' attention. Previously, Tesla had expected the Berlin Gigafactory to start production by the end of 2021, but suffered some delays. The Austin plant has also attracted attention for the use of new structural battery packs and new 4680 batteries.
According to the financial report, the Berlin and Austin plants have not yet been put into production and are still in the equipment commissioning stage, of which the Approval of the Production License at the Berlin plant in Brandenburg, Germany, is still in progress, while the Austin plant is trial production of the Model Y at the end of 2021, and after obtaining the final certification, the company will begin to deliver vehicles to users. Tesla said the first vehicles produced at the Berlin plant still use 2170 batteries.
Berlin Gigafactory
Musk revealed on the conference call that the two plants in Austin and Berlin have produced a lot of cars last quarter, of which the company is producing the Model Y equipped with 4680 batteries at the Austin plant, which is expected to start delivery in the first quarter of 2022.
In 2022, Tesla does not plan to announce a new Gigafactory site, but will look for a new Gigafactory site at the end of the year. The Texas Gigafactory will produce the 4680 batteries and structural components and begin delivery after the certification is complete. The first batch of 4680 battery cars will be delivered in the first quarter of 2022.
In the earnings report, Tesla said that in addition to adding two new factories in Berlin and Austin, the Fremont plant in California and the Shanghai Gigafactory will continue to increase production capacity, of which the Fremont plant is expected to exceed the existing 600,000 capacity.
Shanghai Gigafactory
Musk said Tesla will continue to face chip restrictions this year, and the chip shortage will not be alleviated until next year. He believes that Tesla can achieve 50% increase in deliveries this year with the Fremont and Shanghai factories alone, which means that if the Austin and Berlin factories go into production, Tesla's delivery growth rate will exceed 50% this year.
Factory capacity
Cybertruck was postponed again
There are no new cars in 2022, only "Optimus Prime"
In 2022, Tesla's most important task is to increase production and delivery. Musk said Tesla will not launch new cars in 2022. If new models are introduced this year, total car production will decline. However, new models such as the CyberTrcuk and the Roadster (electric supercar) will have a lot of engineering.
There is news that the electric pickup cyberruck will be postponed until 2023, and production in the first quarter is also expected to be limited. The results meeting confirmed the news that Cyberruck will further delay the launch. Musk said he hoped it would be possible next year, but did not give a specific timeline. According to the latest media statistics, Tesla has a backlog of more than 1.2 million Cyberruck orders, worth more than $80 billion.
At the same time, the production of Cybertruck is also limited. Musk said the current goal is to build 250,000 CyberTrucks a year.
The outside world is concerned about when Tesla will launch a lower-priced model. Previously, Tesla had stated "$25,000 model" in public, and there were rumors on the market about the naming and price of the product, and even some media called it "the most anticipated new car in the past decade".
Sadly, Musk said on the conference call: "We are not moving forward with the development of a $25,000 electric vehicle right now." We have enough to do now. It's wrong to look at a $25,000 car now, and what really matters now is when the car will be able to go on autopilot, which will lead to a 4-5x drop in transportation costs. ”
Musk pointed out that this year's company's focus on research and development products is the Tesla robot Optimus (Optimus Prime), which was unveiled at Tesla's AI day last year and is expected to be used in Tesla's factories this year for moving parts in factories.
Tesla's insurance is currently available in five U.S. states. Tesla hopes that by the end of this year, 80% of Tesla customers can choose Tesla insurance.
Red Star News reporter Wu Danruo
Edited by Yu Dongmei
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