Tesla expects 50% growth despite supply chain issues
Tesla sales will grow more than 50% in 2022 year-over-year despite supply chain issues, US automaker CEO Elon Musk said.
Last year, the electric car maker posted a record $5.5 billion net profit. In 2020, Tesla reached a profitable level for the first time at the end of the year, and last year increased it eight times.
Tesla's sales are up 71% to $53.8 billion in 2021 as it delivered more than 936,000 vehicles to customers.
Mr Musk said 2021 was "a breakthrough year for Tesla and for electric vehicles in general."
“While we all struggled with supply chain issues throughout the year, we managed to increase our supply volumes by almost 90% last year,” he said, adding that he expects new growth “well above 50%” in 2022 year.
Automakers around the world are struggling with microchip shortages, among other manufacturing and supply chain issues, even though Tesla looks better than most competitors.
The company is using less scarce chips and is rapidly overwriting software while competitors are slowing down production.
Tesla's factories in the US, Germany and China are expected to be able to significantly expand their production, even as the company faces new competition from well-known automakers turning their attention to electric vehicles.
It is tasked with opening two factories this year with scarce chips and other parts, as well as introducing new batteries and technologies.
Elon Musk also revealed that Tesla is considering building new factories in new locations in the future.
Looking ahead, he said he expects fully self-driving cars to "become the most important source of profitability for Tesla."
We will see that fleet vehicles that are essentially self-driving through a software update could end up being the biggest increase in asset value of any asset class in history," Musk added.
He downplayed concerns that other firms could pose a threat, tweeting that companies like GM have "little room for improvement."
Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, said he believes Tesla could sell 10-20% more vehicles in the last three months of the year if there were no problems with the supply of components and chips.
Tesla's fourth-quarter net income rose to $2.3 billion, or $2.05 per share, from $270 million, or $0.24 per share, in the same period last year.
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Tesla quarterly revenue increased by 65% to $17.7 billion with an average market forecast for this indicator of $17.1 billion, car sales increased by 71% to 308.65 thousand cars.
Tesla shares shed 0.8% in additional trading on Wednesday. Over the past 12 months, their value has increased by 8.5%.