Tesla’s 2022 sales fall short of Elon Musk’s pledge to grow by 50 per cent

Tesla said on Monday that the company has sold a record 1.31 million vehicles in 2022 with production increasing 47 per cent compared to last year, however, the numbers fall short of chief Elon Musk’s pledge to grow sales by 50 per cent nearly every year.

The electric vehicle manufacturing company said in its 2022 fourth-quarter report that it delivered over 405,000 vehicles, up from the 308,600 vehicles it delivered in the same period last year.

These numbers represent a record growth of about 40 per cent in deliveries year on year, but reportedly still fall short of Wall Street analysts’ expectations.

According to estimates compiled by FactSet analysts, Wall Street was expecting Tesla to report around 427,000 deliveries for the final quarter of the year as of 31 December 2022, CNBC reported.

The numbers have also fallen short of the Tesla chief’s own pledge to grow sales by 50 per cent nearly every year.

“Over a multi-year horizon we expect to achieve 50 per cent average annual growth in vehicle deliveries. The rate of growth will depend on our equipment capacity, factory uptime, operational efficiency and the capacity and stability of the supply chain,” Tesla had said in its third-quarter 2022 shareholder presentation.

The company noted that the sales of its entry-level Model 3 Sedan and Model Y crossover amounted to 388,131 vehicles while that of its Model S sedan and Model X SUV added to 17,147 deliveries.

“Thank you to all of our customers, employees, suppliers, shareholders, and supporters who helped us achieve a great 2022 in light of significant Covid and supply chain-related challenges throughout the year,” Tesla said in a statement.

The EV manufacturer said it would post its financial results for the final quarter and the full year on Wednesday, January 25, 2023.

“Our net income and cash flow results will be announced along with the rest of our financial performance when we announce Q4 and full year 2022 earnings,” it said.

While Tesla’s EV sales have grown, the company’s shares, however, dropped by a record value of over 65 per cent last year.

“Long-term fundamentals are extremely strong. Short-term market madness is unpredictable,” Musk tweeted on Saturday.

Amid the drop in share values, Tesla’s China head Tom Zhu is reportedly taking over the company’s North American sales.

While Mr Zhu’s official title remains vice president in charge of Asia/Pacific, he has been added to the North American sales, service, and delivery organisation chart, Electrek reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.