Recently, Tesla released a quarterly performance statement, and its "banknote" ability once again made other car companies envious and jealous.
Tesla's revenue in the first quarter was $18.756 billion, an increase of 81% year-on-year, while net profit was $3.318 billion, an increase of 658% year-on-year.
Considering that the domestic automaker BYD also took off in the first quarter, the delivery volume in March or even a single month was 100,000 vehicles, so let's compare BYD and Tesla in the first quarter.
First of all, tesla delivered about 310,000 cars in the first quarter, while BYD delivered about 291,000 vehicles in the first quarter, of which the sales of new energy vehicles were 286,000 units, and the difference was not particularly large.
But the sales volume looks similar, and the profit difference is too big, about 30 times the difference.
Tesla's net profit in the first quarter was 3.318 billion US dollars (about 21.47 billion yuan), while BYD's expected profit in the first quarter was between 650 million and 950 million yuan, which is a difference of 23-33 times.
Why is there so much difference? First, the gross profit margin is too far apart, Tesla's car gross margin in the first quarter is as high as 32.9%, while BYD's first quarter is unknown, but in 2021 it is about 16%, only tesla is about half.
The second is that the price is not the same. According to the data of the first quarter, Tesla's automotive business revenue was $16.861 billion, the average price per car was 350,000 yuan, the pre-tax profit (EBITDA) per vehicle reached $16,203 (about 104,000 yuan), and the net profit reached about 69,000 yuan.
But what about BYD? The price of general cars is 100,000-200,000 yuan, which is only about half of Tesla's. Coupled with the low gross profit margin, the net profit is lower in the end.
Of course, on the other hand, if the gross profit margin is low and the profit is low, it means that the car is cost-effective and the manufacturer has not made any money from it. The high gross profit and high profit of the car mean that the manufacturer makes a lot of money from the middle, and the cost performance is not high.
But Tesla sells expensive, high profits can also sell well, this is the strength, just like Apple, everyone complains about high prices and low allocations, but it is selling well, Tesla and Apple, selling is not hardware configuration, selling intelligent capabilities, service ecology, brands, etc.
Therefore, for BYD, it is really necessary to learn Tesla's profitability and intelligent capabilities, and for new energy vehicle companies, intelligent capabilities are the magic weapons that can really amplify their own value.