Per reporter: Li Xing Per editor: Pei Jianru
On April 21, Tesla released the first quarter of 2022 financial report, showing that in the first quarter of this year, the company's total revenue was $18.756 billion, an increase of 81% from $10.389 billion in the same period of the previous year, higher than analysts' expectations of $17.92 billion; non-GAAP net profit in the first quarter was $3.736 billion, an increase of 255% year-on-year.
Tesla said part of the company's revenue growth was due to an increase in the number of cars delivered, as well as an increase in average selling prices.
Image source: Tesla earnings report
In the first quarter of 2022, Tesla delivered about 310,000 new vehicles, an increase of 68% year-on-year. According to the financial report, in the first quarter of this year, Tesla's automotive industry revenue reached $16.861 billion, an increase of 87% year-on-year; gaAP (US Generally Accepted Accounting Standards) automotive gross margin in the first quarter was 32.9%.
However, Tesla also pointed out in its earnings report that due to the supply chain as a major constraint, the company's factories have been operating at a level below planned capacity for several quarters, and this situation is likely to continue in mid-2022.
Tesla said that in addition to the impact of the chip shortage, the recent outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic has also put pressure on its supply chain and factory operations, and the company has invested a lot of energy in independent battery cell production, raw material procurement and supplier diversification.
Affected by the epidemic in Shanghai, its super factory in the Shanghai Lingang Free Trade Zone has been out of production for nearly three weeks since March 28, and has officially resumed work and production on April 19.
Despite this, Tesla CEO Musk still said on the earnings call that this year, Tesla will achieve a 60% growth rate in delivery, and still has confidence in achieving an average annual delivery of 50% growth over the years.
With the start of production and delivery at the Texas Gigafactory and the Berlin-Brandenburg Gigafactory, Tesla's global production capacity has also been significantly increased. A new report from Germany's Automobilwoche says Tesla aims to ramp up production to 1,000 units a week by the end of this month. Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas expects Tesla to deliver 1.46 million vehicles in fiscal 2022, up 56 percent from 2021.
Image source: Visual China
In addition, Tesla also revealed its progress in business aspects such as autonomous driving and robo-taxis. According to Tesla, the company is developing a customized Robo Taxi self-driving taxi that will neither configure the steering wheel nor install foot pedals. Tesla hopes to achieve mass production of Robo Taxi in 2024, which will become a "huge driving force" for Tesla's growth.
In terms of autopilot, Tesla said that the company will continue to develop a beta version of full autopilot software, and there will be 7 software upgrades this year. At the same time, the company will continue to study ways to reduce autonomous driving detachments, especially focusing on unprotected left turns and smooth driving by reducing deceleration.
Notably, Tesla plans to release a beta version of its fully autonomous driving software to all U.S. users this year. Previously, the beta version of Tesla's full autopilot software has been released to some Canadian customers.
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