Gross profit margin, a new high! Tesla's first quarter 2022 financial report has been released, and the results are gratifying.
Let's look at a few key figures:
From January to March, Tesla's total revenue was $18.756 billion, up from $10.389 billion in the same period last year, an increase of 81% year-on-year;
The gross profit margin of the automotive business reached a record high of 32.9%, up from 29.3% in the fourth quarter of last year;
Net income attributable to common shareholders was $3,318 million, up nearly sevenfold from $438 million in the year-ago quarter.
Simply put, Tesla is super capable of making money, and it also makes money with shareholders.
Good sales, but also increased prices, so do not worry about selling?
In the first quarter, in just 3 months, how many Teslas sold?
Earnings reports show that first-quarter deliveries were 310048 units, with the Model 3 and Model Y still remaining "absolute protagonists," with a combined delivery of 95 percent of the total.
Compared to the same period last year, first-quarter deliveries increased 68% year-over-year.
Production was also surging, with production of 305407 units in the first quarter, up 69% from the same period in the year.
Basically, how much is produced and how much is sold, so a more staggering figure is announced in the financial report. In the first quarter, Tesla's global inventory turnover days were only 3 days, which was further shortened from the 4 days in the previous quarter and far below the industry average cycle.
It should be pointed out that this is the sales performance after Tesla's several price increases.
Tesla's price increase logic is not difficult to understand, chip shortage, battery raw materials price increases, more difficult and more difficult is the epidemic plague, as well as logistics costs, other parts and components costs have risen.
However, from the time the order is placed to the time the car is picked up, consumers will have a waiting cycle of weeks or even months. The price rises, first affecting the current order, and then slowly transmitting to the subsequent delivery volume.
Therefore, the real impact of price on delivery will have to wait a few more months to verify.
Production, cost, Tesla's top priority
In Musk's eyes, confidence is full.
Tesla's production target for this year is 1.5 million units, a 50 percent increase from 2021 and a 50 percent growth rate for years to come.
The Shanghai plant, as the main production force, has been transformed since the end of last year, and the current production capacity potential has reached 750,000 vehicles per year.
If the Shanghai plant is expected to be "fully open" and "not stop", then, towards the target value of 1.5 million vehicles, there are still 750,000 vehicles to be replenished.
Tesla's "reserve power" – the Austin plant in Texas and the Brandenburg plant in Berlin – had high hopes.
The current uncertainty is that the two factories have to go through a painful "capacity hell" (that is, a long capacity ramp-up period) and face the test of the maturity of new manufacturing technologies (such as integrated die casting, large cylindrical batteries), and whether the supply chain can be stable and continuous supply is also a question mark.
Musk has said that it will take at least 9 to 12 months for the new plant to ramp up capacity. Whether 1.5 million vehicles can be achieved in 2022 remains to be seen.
In addition to the capacity problem, Musk also hopes to find more solutions to the cost problem.
For example, the price of lithium.
In April, Musk hinted on Twitter that Tesla might be involved in the mining of raw materials such as lithium. Of course, it could also be the acquisition of a lithium mining company.
In Tesla's philosophy of life, you can think of anything he dares to do.
The financial report retains the program, and the cake is still to be drawn
On the earnings call, Musk answered two product questions: Cybertruck and Robotaxi.
The Cybertruck, the electric pickup truck, was once confusing. The current narrative is that production is planned at the Austin, Texas plant, but the Model Y's capacity issues need to be addressed first.
The implication is that Cybertruck did not jump the ticket, but it was not an urgent task.
Robotaxi, which other companies are also doing, is self-driving taxis.
Musk confidently introduced Tesla's Robotaxi project, defined as highly optimized autopilot with no steering wheel and no pedals. The user is only a passenger identity, similar to taking the bus and taking the subway, but the cost of use is even lower.
Tesla's goal is that in 2024, Robotaxi will begin mass production.
The fully autonomous driving project still has many challenges from being truly landed. Two years later, it was already a very ideal estimate.
Before that, you may wish to let users fully experience the FSD, so that it looks more reliable.
Anyway, Musk painted a lot of cakes, especially when the earnings report was announced, which belonged to the reserved program.
The author of this article is Kick Car Gang Cao An