On April 21, Tesla released its first quarter of fiscal 2022, handing over a rather eye-catching report card.
The financial report disclosed that Tesla's total revenue in the first quarter of 2022 was $18.756 billion, an increase of 81% year-on-year; the automotive business revenue was $16.861 billion, the main source of revenue, an increase of 87% year-on-year; GAAP (US GeneralLy Observed Accounting Standards) net profit was $3.318 billion, an increase of 658% year-on-year; on average, Tesla's pre-tax profit per car reached $16203 (about 100,000 yuan). Tesla officials pointed out that operating income and net profit in the first quarter exceeded market expectations and set a new record.
However, in the face of impressive results, Musk still raised a few hidden concerns.
The higher the price, the better it sells
In the company's earnings call, Tesla noted that the reasons for the increase in revenue include an increase in the number of cars delivered and an increase in the average selling price. It is the same increase in price and sales that has made Tesla's amazing report card.
For more than a year, Tesla motors have frequently adjusted prices, and the Model 3 and Model Y have been adjusted more than ten times in succession, and the average price has increased by more than 20%. As for the reason for the frequent price increases, Tesla attributed it to supply chain challenges and cost pressures on raw materials.
From the macro environment, due to the shortage of chip supply, regional conflicts, and high inflation in the world, the prices of some automotive raw materials and parts have soared, and Tesla is indeed facing higher cost pressure like other car companies. However, wool is out of the sheep, and from the perspective of profit growth, the pressure of rising raw material costs is basically passed on to consumers through price increases.
In the first quarter, Tesla's pre-tax profit per car increased by more than 60% to $16,203; the gross profit margin of the automobile business reached 32.9%, 6.36 percentage points more than the same period last year, and more than 10 percentage points higher than that of domestic leading car-making new car companies such as Weilai and Ideal.
It is worth noting that the price increase has not resisted the enthusiasm of consumers, and the more the price rises, the better Tesla cars sell, which is particularly prominent in overseas markets. According to Tesla, in the first quarter of 2022, Tesla delivered about 310,000 new cars, an increase of 68% year-on-year. This phenomenon is related to soaring oil prices, the growth of new energy vehicles in the world, and the lack of competitors in overseas markets.
According to the association, Tesla's sales in China increased by 56.3% in the first quarter, lagging behind Tesla's global sales growth level. This reflects from the side that tesla's competitive landscape in the domestic market is more intense than in overseas markets.
"No price increase in the next six months"
"The current price is the price of the vehicle delivered in the next 6-12 months." Musk said in the earnings call that the frequent price increases of Tesla vehicles may temporarily end.
However, Musk quickly added: "The current pricing reflects our expectation that costs may grow, which is our best guess." ”
Will there really be no price increase in the next six months? Maybe it's because production capacity can't keep up and the macro environment has changed.
According to Musk, from 2021 to 2022, Tesla supplier parts costs have increased by 20%-30%. Due to soaring raw material prices and limited supply chains, Tesla has been operating at a lower level than planned capacity for several quarters while facing cost pressures, and this situation is likely to continue in the second and third quarters. Despite the advantages that other new energy vehicle companies such as self-developed chips, mineral layouts, and battery factories do not have, Tesla's production capacity is still tight.
For Musk, this is one of his hidden concerns: "Customers who order now face a long delivery cycle, and some orders will not arrive until next year." It is foreseeable that although the Shanghai factory has resumed work and production, and the Berlin factory has also been put into production, Tesla will still maintain a shortage of supply, and not increasing prices seems to be just a gimmick, after all, consumers want to buy a car is very difficult."
Tesla Berlin Gigafactory
In addition, the current high inflation also has a strong turn expectation, Tesla's high cost is expected to fall. At present, the market view is generally that the Fed will raise interest rates in May, shrink its balance sheet at a faster-than-expected rate, or will effectively control inflation; commodity prices such as metal ores are also expected to fall back after the international geopolitics tend to ease, driving costs down.
There is no light on autonomous driving
Another of Musk's concerns comes from autonomous driving.
"Regarding full self-driving, I've never really seen more light in any technology development I've been involved in. We seem to be about to break through, but in reality we are not. Musk said.
The automatic driving of the pie is one of the biggest expectations of consumers for new energy vehicles at present, and it is also the main arena for car companies to compete in technology. However, due to the time to be held for technical verification and evolution, and the delay in liberalizing policies, autonomous driving can only stay in the stage of testing road tests and drawing cakes for consumers. Since last year, a number of new car-making forces, including Tesla, have had frequent automatic assisted driving accidents, which have also cast more shadows on the industry.
In order to advance self-driving technology faster, Musk touted the beta version of his fully autonomous driving software (FSD) in an earnings call. It is reported that Tesla plans to release a beta version of the full autopilot software to all U.S. users this year, inviting Tesla owners to purchase or subscribe to Tesla's FSD advanced driver assistance package. However, this still does not allow Tesla vehicles to achieve full self-driving.
In addition, Tesla also revealed the progress of Robotaxi's business. According to Tesla, the company is developing a customized Robotaxi self-driving taxi. Musk said Tesla expects to mass-produce Robotaxi products without steering wheels or pedals by 2024, and with Robotaxi and FSD full self-driving, Tesla will provide consumers with the lowest cost of transportation per mile.
Revelation of gross margin of 30%.
Although Musk still has his own concerns, this excellent financial report really reflects the huge gap between domestic car companies and Tesla.
For example, the gross profit margin of more than 30%, if you do not know which company it is in advance, most people will think of it as a more profitable industry such as catering retail or real estate industry, it is difficult for anyone to think that this is the achievement of a car company. In terms of horizontal comparison, the gross profit margin of the new car companies such as Weilai and Ideal is generally around 20%, and the gross profit margin of BMW, Mercedes-Benz and other car companies, as well as several domestic head vehicle groups, is around 15%, compared with Tesla.
In addition, Tesla's global layout of the whole industry chain is also worth learning from domestic car companies.
From 2020 onwards, the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the shortage of chip supply, and the sharp rise in the price of lithium, cobalt, nickel and other materials have continuously impacted the automotive industry, and the industry as a whole has been under pressure. Recently, the epidemic situation in the Yangtze River Delta region is grim, and several new car-making leaders in China have even issued an early warning that "all China's automakers must stop work and production". The reason is that these new car-making forces rely too much on the OEM model in the industrial chain, and the situation that the adaptability and anti-risk ability are relatively weak has been exposed under the impact of the epidemic.
In contrast, Tesla, in the unfavorable environment of the flow of years, with self-developed chips, self-built battery factories, and many super factories around the world, it bucked the trend, not only achieved profitability, but also jumped to the world's highest market value car companies, showing the strong vitality of the deep layout of the industrial chain.
For China's new energy automobile industry, Tesla is undoubtedly a benchmark in front, but also doomed to be an unavoidable competitor, whether it is a new car-making force "Wei Xiaoli" or a traditional car company in transition, Tesla's story is very worthy of reference. After all, no brand of car can go into thousands of households like Lianhua Qingpi. Who will succeed ultimately depends on the choices of the market and users.