Xinhua News Agency, San Francisco, January 28th Summary: Tesla’s financial report is happy, but there are worries, Chinese auto companies challenge strong
Xinhua News Agency reporter Wu Xiaoling
The fourth quarter financial report of 2022 released by Tesla, an American electric car manufacturer, showed that the company’s revenue and net profit both hit record highs, but its gross profit margin declined year-on-year. The Shanghai factory is its main export center, and Chinese car companies are challenging it strongly.
The financial report shows that Tesla’s revenue in the fourth quarter of 2022 will be US$24.3 billion, a year-on-year increase of 37% and a month-on-month increase of 13%; the annual total revenue will be US$81.5 billion, an increase of 51% over the previous year; U.S. dollars; the annual net profit was 12.6 billion U.S. dollars, more than double that of the previous year.
Tesla will deliver 405,000 vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2022 and 1.31 million vehicles for the whole year, both of which are record deliveries, but still fall short of market expectations and the goals set by Tesla.
The financial report shows that Tesla’s Shanghai plant has an annual production capacity of more than 750,000 vehicles. Tesla said that the Shanghai factory is the company’s main export center, supporting the global market except North America.
At the same time, Tesla faces many challengers from Chinese car companies in the field of electric vehicles, such as Weilai, Xiaopeng and Ideal.Tesla’s biggest competitor in China isBYD。
According to data from the Automobile Market Research Branch of the China Automobile Dealers Association, Tesla’s Model 3 is expected to arrive in mid-2022.Guoxin EnergyThe retail sales of sedans rank fifth, which is not as good as several models of companies such as BYD; in the field of new energy sports utility vehicles, Tesla’s Model Y ranks second in China’s retail sales, also after BYD.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on the company’s earnings conference call about the competitive landscape of electric vehicles that Tesla has great respect for Chinese auto companies, which are extremely competitive in the world.
Facing macroeconomic pressure and increasing competition from other electric car makers, Tesla has recently cut prices globally, which has stimulated buying demand to a certain extent. Musk said that since January, Tesla has “received the strongest orders in history”, with the number of orders nearly double the production during the same period.
At the same time, affected by factors such as price cuts, Tesla Motors’ gross profit margin in the fourth quarter was only 25.9%, a year-on-year decrease of nearly 5 percentage points, the worst performance in five quarters. With the expansion of Tesla’s price cuts, industry insiders predict that Tesla’s gross profit margin will continue to decline in 2023.
Some analysts pointed out that Tesla sacrificed gross profit margins in exchange for sales as a last resort. The average selling price of Tesla vehicles has “has been on a downward trend for many years,” the company said. “Affordability” is necessary to grow into a company that sells millions of vehicles a year.
Tesla stated that under the influence of adverse factors such as uncertainties in the macroeconomic environment, the company will strive to accelerate cost reduction, increase production efficiency, expand production capacity, focus on cost-effectiveness, and improve functionality and reliability.
Tesla plans to deliver 1.8 million vehicles in 2023. The financial report pointed out that with the increase in production at the company’s factories in Berlin, Germany and Austin, Texas, Tesla’s total production capacity has exceeded 450,000 vehicles per quarter.
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