On January 27, Beijing time, Tesla released the fourth quarter and full year of 2021 financial reports. According to the data, Tesla delivered about 940,000 new cars worldwide last year, and the annual GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) net profit was as high as $5.5 billion.
According to the financial report data, in the fourth quarter of 2021, Tesla's total revenue reached $17.7 billion, an increase of 65% year-on-year, GAAP operating profit was $2.6 billion, and GAAP net profit was $2.3 billion, an increase of 760% year-on-year. For the full year of 2021, tesla's GAAP net profit remained as high as $5.5 billion, equivalent to about 35 billion yuan, excluding the $6.5 billion spent on new plant construction and other capital expenditures.
Gross profit margin of more than 30%
Tesla said that profitability benefited from the further reduction of Tesla's bicycle costs, the increase in car delivery and the increase in profits of other businesses such as car rental, of which Model Y is the key to Tesla's profit margin, and the localization of the Shanghai Gigafactory is also an important factor.
Summary of Tesla's main financial indicators in 2021.
In the fourth quarter, Tesla's revenue was $17.7 billion, of which the profit margin of the automotive business has reached 30.6%, and after deducting capital expenditures, Tesla's operating cash flow (free cash flow) reached $2.8 billion in the fourth quarter, achieving the highest quarterly operating gross margin of any production OEMs.
Taking the quarterly data of 2021 as an example, the gross profit margin of Toyota, Volkswagen and other brands in the world generally does not exceed 20%, and compared with the new domestic car-making forces, the gross profit margin of Xiaopeng Automobile in the third quarter of last year hit a record high of 14.4%, and the gross profit margin of The whole vehicle in the third quarter of last year was about 18%, which is a large distance from Tesla.
Behind the best financial report in history, Tesla's stock price has not been strong recently, since entering 2022, Tesla's stock price has fallen from a maximum of more than $1200 / share to $937.4 / share, and the market value has also fallen from about $1.2 trillion to $941.4 billion today, with a market value shrinkage of more than $250 billion.
In the future, hardware price reduction is still a high probability event
Gross profit margin increase, so is tesla still room for price reduction in the future?
Although Tesla's gross profit margin exceeded 30% in the third and fourth quarters of last year, taking the Chinese market as an example, Tesla Model 3 rose from 235,900 yuan in August in the second half of last year to 250,900 yuan in November.
In addition, from the latest price adjustment, Tesla also continues to "increase prices". Affected by subsidies and other declines, the current price of Tesla's Chinese-made Model 3 rear-wheel drive version is 265,600 yuan, up 10,000 yuan from the end of last year.
Obviously, the increase in gross profit margin has not led to a decline in car prices in the short term, but in the long run, Tesla's hardware price reduction is still a high probability event, "large castings, structural battery packs, 4680 batteries and other aspects, will help us continue to reduce product costs." Tesla said on the financial call, and Tesla CEO Musk also said that Tesla's software business will be the main focus in the future, "the FSD stack will be deeply improved in the coming months." ”
The much-watched 4680 battery is likely to be installed on the new car delivered this year, and the fastest time will be in the first quarter of this year, and the Model Y produced by Tesla's Texas Gigafactory will be equipped with a 4680 battery.
Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory.
In addition to the change of software and hardware, Musk also said that by the end of this year, 80% of Tesla owners will have the option to buy Tesla insurance, from this proportion, Chinese Tesla owners will also be expected to be directly on Tesla insurance in the future.
Tesla also announced the current global factory capacity, of which the Shanghai Gigafactory contributed to Tesla's delivery of more than 400,000 vehicles last year, the global scope has achieved more than 1.22 million annual production capacity of production efficiency, the Texas plant has been put into operation at the end of 2021, the products of the Austin plant are about to start delivery, and the Berlin plant has also started vehicle production equipment testing.
However, from the perspective of word of mouth, throughout the year last year, Tesla suffered controversy in many parts of the world, and there were also many incidents of car owners' rights protection in the Chinese market.
Nandu reporter Zhong Jianting