The world's online business Huang Natural
Edited by Li Danchao
In the early morning of April 21, Tesla released its 2022 Q1 financial report.
Although Musk previously said on Twitter that it will be an "exceptionally difficult quarter" due to supply chain disruptions and the impact of the epidemic, several key financial indicators of Tesla are still new records:
In the first quarter of this year, Tesla's total revenue was $18.76 billion, an increase of 81% year-on-year; automotive revenue reached $16.86 billion, an increase of 87% year-on-year. Auto gross margin jumped to a record 32.9 percent, driving total gross margin to 29.1 percent, more than double the auto industry average, and Tesla's profitability in the quarter once again exceeded the imagination of peers.
A few weeks ago, on April 2, Tesla announced the first quarter of global production and deliveries, basically maintaining the same production volume as 2021 Q4, and the global delivery volume achieved a slight increase of 310,000 vehicles, so analysts gave a cautiously optimistic attitude towards Tesla's Q1.
After the release of the 2022 Q1 financial report, its total revenue, net profit and earnings per share far exceeded Wall Street and industry expectations. After the earnings report, Tesla's after-hours stock price surged 5%, from 973.49 MELA to $1031.6.
Twitter netizens posted that Tesla's stock price rose sharply after hours
Earn 200 million yuan a day, "BBA" becomes "BBT"?
Following the dazzling results of the previous year, Tesla's total revenue, automotive business revenue, automotive gross margin, total gross profit margin, etc. in the first quarter made breakthroughs, and GAAP achieved a net profit of 3.3 billion US dollars, about 21.2 billion yuan, an increase of 658% year-on-year, with an average daily income of about 230 million yuan. It was the best performance ever, with stable deliveries and high gross margins underneath which Tesla achieved profitability for 11 consecutive quarters.
From the production and delivery data of automobiles, the total production of 2022 Q1 was 305,000 units, an increase of 69% year-on-year, of which Model S/X produced 14,000 units and Model 3/Y produced 291,000 units; the total delivery volume of 2022 Q1 was 310,000 units, an increase of 68% year-on-year, of which Model S/X delivered 15,000 units and Model 3/Y 295,000 units.
According to the China Association of Passenger Vehicles, Tesla delivered 182,000 vehicles in China in the first quarter, and the Chinese market contributed nearly 60% of its global deliveries. This also makes it have an impact on the sales of traditional first-line luxury car companies in China.
In the first quarter, BMW delivered 209,000 units in China, down 9.2% year-on-year, Mercedes-Benz delivered 192,000 units, down 13.7% year-on-year, Audi only 162,000 units, Tesla surpassed Audi for the first time, rewriting "BBA" to "BBT". The domestic car-making new forces "Wei Xiaoli" three, the total delivery volume of 2022 Q1 car companies is less than one-third of Tesla's.
Tesla's shipping efficiency is also very high, according to the financial report data, Tesla Q1's global average inventory cycle has been shortened to 3 days, that is, the average time for a vehicle from the factory off the production line to delivery is only 3 days. For many car manufacturers, the average sales cycle of vehicles in the store is more than 3 days, which is almost the high-speed shipment of the FMCG industry, and it is also directly related to Tesla's current shortage of supply in the global market.
According to Tesla China's official website, Tesla has been significantly out of stock, the current Model Y version of the delivery cycle from 10 weeks to 16 weeks, Model 3 versions of the delivery cycle from 16 weeks to 24 weeks, of which, the Model 3 rear-wheel drive version of the delivery cycle of up to 20 weeks to 24 weeks.
In the US market, the same hot sales have been delayed in delivery, Tesla Model Y versions are now scheduled to be ordered from June this year to January next year, and the delivery cycle of Model 3 also needs to wait from July to October.
This also releases a message: if production capacity continues to increase, Tesla's delivery volume will usher in new growth space.
The Shanghai factory resumed work, and the two new plants in Germany and the United States are about to explode production capacity for Model Y
Whether the next can ensure the stability of production capacity, under the epidemic and supply pressure, the Shanghai factory in China, which currently accounts for nearly half of Tesla's current production capacity, has attracted much attention. Just two days ago, the Shanghai factory has sent news of the resumption of work.
Song Gang, senior director of Tesla's manufacturing, said in an interview with the media that more than 8,000 employees will arrive at the post, and the production capacity will gradually climb to the overall single-shift system in the next three or four days.
It has been more than 20 days since the Shanghai factory was shut down on March 28, which makes Tesla's Shanghai factory, which has a daily production capacity of about 2,000 vehicles, lose about 40,000 vehicles in the quarter, and because the Shanghai factory is still in the closed-loop management mode of epidemic prevention, the factory employees are all in the closed factory area, under such conditions, it will take a certain amount of time for production capacity to return to normal.
Tesla's Shanghai factory
In response, Musk responded confidently on the earnings call: "Shanghai gigafactory capacity is rebounding in retaliation. Despite the loss of a few weeks, the Shanghai plant still achieved record production this quarter, and the production figures in the third and fourth quarters will be better. Musk expects Tesla's annual production to reach 1.5 million vehicles this year.
Tesla's Berlin Gigafactory in Germany has been officially put into operation on March 22 this year, with a target annual production capacity of 500,000 vehicles, according to the German reporter who visited the class, under the blessing of integrated die casting technology, the factory only needs 45 seconds to produce a Model Y body. The new plant in Texas, USA, also opened on April 7, with plans to start production of the Model Y and electric pickup truck Cyberruck, with a target annual production capacity of 500,000 units.
When the four gigafactories in Shanghai, California, Berlin and Texas began to operate at full capacity, Tesla opened capacity constraints and delivery efficiency with more certain expectations.
With $2.2 billion in cash flow, why are you still raising prices?
According to the financial report, Tesla's free cash flow (operating cash flow after deducting capital expenditures) in the first quarter has reached $2.2 billion, and total debt other than auto and energy product financing has fallen below $100 million.
What is Tesla going to do with abundant cash and record profits? Will musk's vision of "building an electric car that people can afford" will be fulfilled?
In the past year, Tesla Model 3 and Model Y have raised prices more than 10 times in succession, and there have even been "scalpers" in the market, reselling orders at low prices. In response, Musk responded for the first time on a conference call, which was due to the consideration of logistics costs and rising raw material prices. "While free cash is plentiful, inflation is difficult to predict. Our car purchase cycle is very long, some models are even scheduled until next year, and the current pricing has taken into account the logistics and supply chain costs for the next 6-12 months. ”
According to the Wall Street Journal analysis, Tesla's average selling price is $52,200, up 2.9% compared with the fourth quarter, while its actual average cost increase is only 1.7%, at $36,500. It can be seen that Tesla seems to be shifting more cost pressures and inflation risks to consumers to achieve better earnings data.
The rising prices are at odds with the vision of a personal home "Model T" in the electric age, and according to Musk's plan, he is investing in a new plan to achieve "an electric car that is affordable to all." He said on the earnings call that more investment will be made later in the development of a new project, the Robotaxi self-driving taxi, with the goal of starting mass production in 2024.
Robotaxi concept image Image source: electrek
The new car has no steering wheel or pedals, runs entirely on Tesla's Fully Autonomous Driving (FSD) software, and will achieve the lowest cost per kilometer of travel for a car in history, allowing passengers to take a taxi for less than bus and subway tickets.
At present, this "money-burning" project will be one of the future directions of Tesla's cash flow, although no car company has yet solved the problem of "not using lidar and achieving full automatic driving", whether Musk's promise can be fulfilled on time still needs to be marked with a question mark. After all, as early as 2019, he had opened his mouth: there will be 1 million Tesla Robotaxis at the end of 2020.
For Tesla, such a brain-opening exploration is like an unexpected Easter egg, and this is one of the reasons why it circles consumers and creates a profit miracle. There is no doubt that Tesla after this quarter's earnings report still makes people pay attention to its "futuristic feeling".