Tesla Beats Revenue and Profit Estimates for Q1 With Deliveries of 310,048 Electric Vehicles

author: FutureCar Staff    

Electric automaker Tesla announced its first quarter deliveries and revenue on Wednesday. The world's most valuable automaker managed to beat earnings and delivery estimates despite the semiconductor shortages and supply chain interruptions that have been hampering global auto production.

Tesla delivered a total of 310,048 vehicles in Q1 2022. Roughly 90% of Tesla's vehicle deliveries were Model 3 and Model Ys with delivery totaling 295,324 vehicles. The remaining 14,724 were Model S and Model X SUVs. Tesla does not break up the sales of individual models, but the Model Y crossover remains a strong seller. 

Tesla reported revenue of $18.8 billion in the first quarter ending March 31, versus estimates of $17.8 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv viewed by Reuters. The company's revenue jumped by up 81% compared to the same period last year.

Although the world's automakers are struggling to maintain production amid supply chain interruptions and semiconductor shortages, its Tesla's second consecutive quarter of record deliveries.

Tesla easily beat Wall Street estimates with a record breaking number of vehicle deliveries to close out 2021. The company reported deliveries of 308,600 vehicles in the fourth quarter of last year, which helped to boost Tesla's annual deliveries to more than 936,000 vehicles, the highest ever yearly total.

Tesla's Q4 2021 deliveries were up 70% from a year earlier and nearly 30% higher from record deliveries the preceding quarter. It was Tesla's seventh consecutive quarterly gain.

Since then, the company has been dealing with the rising costs of raw materials as well as supply chain disruptions.

Last month, Tesla announced two seperate second price hikes in less than a week for all of its electric models on sale in the United States and China. Tesla raised prices for all its U.S. models by 5%-10%. 

The company says it is due to the rising costs of raw materials and logistics, which are being made worse by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk said that the company is facing "significant inflationary pressure due to the higher costs of raw materials."

Although Tesla is the world's most valuable automaker with a market cap of over $1 trillion, the company is still under pressure to maintain its vehicle margins.

Prices of metals like aluminum used for vehicle bodies have jumped over 50% from a year ago. Other raw materials, including nickel and lithium used for electric vehicle batteries have also increased dramatically. The price of nickel, for example, has jumped by 29% since last year.

Despite the challenges for Tesla, the recent opening of its new factory in Germany and another scheduled to open soon in Texas will help the automaker significantly boost production. 

The new factories will be key to meeting demand and reducing reliance on its China factory, its biggest one, which is slowly recovering from a plant shutdown due to an emergence of covid 19 cases in China, which resulted in widespread lockdowns that affected many of Tesla's suppliers.

Tesla will post its full financial results for the first quarter of the year after market close on Wednesday, April 20, 2022.

FutureCar Staff