Tesla continues to defy the global problems in the auto industry with record numbers. Despite the supply chain bottlenecks and pandemic-related production losses in China, the electric car pioneer closed the past quarter with record sales and profits. For 2024, Tesla is now aiming to start production of a robotic taxi without a steering wheel and pedals – and according to company boss Elon Musk, a ride with it could be cheaper than taking the bus. However, Tesla is concerned about the future availability of important raw materials such as lithium for the batteries.
In the three months ended March, sales rose 81 percent year-on-year to $18.8 billion. Tesla earned a bottom line of $ 3.3 billion – that was 658 percent more than a year ago. The numbers came in much better than Wall Street had expected.
Although the global auto industry is suffering from persistent shortages of computer chips, for example, Tesla built around 305,400 electric cars and delivered 310,048 vehicles to customers in the first quarter – an increase of 68 percent year-on-year and another record. For the current quarter, Musk promised production at a similar level – except “we could pull a rabbit out of the hat and be a little higher”. In March, the group opened its first car plant in Europe near Berlin. However, production there has yet to really get going.
Tesla did not provide any specific information about starting up the factory in Grünheide. In the long term, around 500,000 e-cars are to roll off the assembly line there every year, but the company is still a long way from that. Tesla typically took 12 months to get to 5,000 vehicles per week after production started, Musk said in a conference call with analysts and investors. Thanks to the experience gained, things can now at least go a little faster in Berlin and the second new plant in Austin, Texas.
Despite the strong numbers, Tesla warned of trouble. Global supply chain issues are likely to persist throughout the year. Musk said that component supply inflation is underestimated – some suppliers have increased prices by 20 to 30 percent. Tesla benefits from long-term contracts with many suppliers, but these will expire at some point, “and then we will potentially see significant cost increases”.
In the past quarter, Tesla also suffered from production outages at its auto factory in Shanghai due to a COVID lockdown in China. Operations there have now started again, but the situation must continue to be closely monitored.
Despite these burdens, the group earns more and more. In the first quarter, Tesla achieved a profit margin of a good 19 percent. According to calculations by industry expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, Tesla is the world’s most profitable carmaker after luxury manufacturer Ferrari and has the highest margin among manufacturers who sell more than 15,000 vehicles. “With the new plants in Austin and Berlin and the high level of profitability, Tesla will dominate the car market of tomorrow,” says Dudenhöffer.
The sale of pollution rights, which other car manufacturers need to improve their emissions balance, once again proved to be a lucrative business for the company. In the first quarter, Tesla had a turnover of 679 million dollars – more than twice as much as in the previous quarter. A change in US rules drove up the amount by a one-off amount of $288 million. In earlier years he helped Certificates Trading Tesla to cushion the high losses, meanwhile car production also pays for itself.
The robotaxi will be a “massive growth driver” for Tesla, Musk said. He recently casually announced the “futuristic-looking” vehicle at the Texas plant opening. There will be more details at a presentation next year. Other car manufacturers are also working on such vehicles. The General Motors subsidiary Cruise, for example, wants to start production of its “Origin” vehicle without a steering wheel and pedals next year. Cruise already operates a limited robotaxi service in San Francisco.
Tesla must first get autonomous driving. More than 100,000 Tesla drivers now have access to “Full Self-Driving” as a test version of the Autopilot assistance system. However, there are regular reports of inadequacies in the software. Musk defended himself on Thursday that he had never experienced so many supposed glimmers of hope with any other technology. But he thinks that Tesla will make it this year. Unlike other companies, Musk only relies on cameras for autonomous driving instead of expensive laser radars that scan the area around the cars.
Tesla production in Grünheide is only gradually starting up
The US electric car manufacturer Tesla is still a long way from the goal of 500,000 vehicles per year in its new factory in Grünheide near Berlin. According to the company, production is only gradually increasing. To reach the level of 5,000 vehicles per week, it took Tesla about 12 months after the start of production at other factories, company boss Elon Musk said in a conference call with analysts and investors. Thanks to the experience gained, things can now at least go a little faster in Berlin and the second new plant in Austin, Texas.
The production of 5,000 electric cars per week would correspond to about half of the production target of 500,000 vehicles per year for the first expansion phase. When presenting the figures for the first quarter, Tesla did not provide any specific information about the ramp-up of the Grünheide factory, which opened on March 22 in the presence of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Musk.
The start-up takes time, according to the quarterly report. The pace of the Austin and Berlin plants will be impacted by the successful introduction of many technological innovations and ongoing supply chain challenges. Despite another record quarter overall, Tesla warned of ongoing difficulties.
Malfunction in the Tesla factory: growing criticism of the authorities
After liquid leaked from the paint shop of the new Tesla car plant in Grünheide near Berlin, criticism of the environmental authorities grew. The water association Strausberg-Erkner (WSE), which also supplies Tesla, called for more transparency on Thursday. The association was only informed on request by the water authority of the Oder-Spree district, said spokeswoman Sandra Ponesky. “We see black for the protection of the drinking water supply in the future.”
While the WSE, citing a photo available to it, is of the opinion that liquid also got into the sewage system, the Brandenburg State Office for the Environment denies this. The “Märkische Oderzeitung” had previously reported on it.
The left in the Brandenburg state parliament calls for clarification. Environment Minister Axel Vogel (Greens) should report on the incident in the next environmental committee, said Parliamentary Managing Director Thomas Domres of the German Press Agency. He criticized the information policy. “The reporting chain must be designed in such a way that all actors are informed.”
On April 11, according to the State Environment Agency, 15 cubic meters (15,000 liters) of treatment bath leaked from the electrocoating in the Tesla factory. The authority speaks of a malfunction, the paint used has no hazardous substance classification. According to the environmental agency, a disposal company pumped out the liquid that had been collected in a tub. During loading on April 12, two to three liters of liquid ran onto the entrance to the paint shop. There (…) “there was never a risk of entry into the groundwater or the sewage system”.
The water board sees the process as a failure. According to the Federal Immission Control Act, an incident is an incident if an event inside or outside the operating area leads to a serious hazard or to certain property damage.
The Brandenburg Green League and the Grünheide citizens’ initiative also refer to a drone video from April 10 that shows a liquid stain on the Tesla site. However, the State Environment Agency sees no connection with the incident in the paint shop: Tesla traces the liquid stain in the video to a function test of a fire-fighting water pump that is carried out daily with fresh water.
This is how Tesla stock is reacting
Further records in sales and profits for the electric car manufacturer Tesla in the first quarter delighted investors on the stock exchange on Thursday. Tesla shares are temporarily up 10.91 percent to $1,085.03 in NASDAQ trading.
Tesla continues to defy the global problems in the auto industry with record numbers. In the three months of the year, sales rose 81 percent year-on-year to $18.8 billion. Tesla earned $3.3 billion on balance – that was 658 percent more than a year ago. The number of vehicles delivered increased by more than two thirds.
With these growth figures, Tesla outshines the quarterly reports of other companies, wrote analyst Stephen Innes from asset manager SPI Asset Management. And that in a phase in which the companies have largely exceeded expectations with their figures.
In a way, Tesla is making up for the tide in the tech sector that streaming service Netflix suffered with declining subscribers and a slump in its share price on Tuesday, noted Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Sophie Lund-Yates. Tesla’s operating profit has increased sixfold, and the manufacturer of electric vehicles is benefiting more and more from economies of scale. Rising sales prices also suggested that Tesla was suffering less from inflation than other automakers. This in turn demonstrates the strength of the Tesla brand in the industry.
The day before, investors had exercised caution shortly before the quarterly figures, the share price had fallen by five percent on Wednesday. The price has been hovering around the $1,000 mark for days. The papers had reached a record high at the beginning of November at more than 1,200 dollars, after which it went down with strong fluctuations.
Still, Tesla still has a market cap of just over $1 trillion. In contrast, the German car manufacturers seem almost like stock market dwarfs: Volkswagen, as the fourth-largest DAX group, has a market value of the equivalent of a good 104 billion dollars. At Mercedes-Benz it is a good 76 billion and at BMW a good 56 billion.
Editorial office finanzen.net / AUSTIN (dpa-AFX)
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