Tesla says it sold a record number of vehicles last year

AUSTIN, Texas—Tesla said Monday that sold a record 1.3 million vehicles last year, but the number fell short of CEO Elon Musk’s pledge to grow the company’s sales by 50 percent nearly every year.

The 2022 figure topped the prior record of 936,000 vehicles delivered in 2021, but it was shy of the 1.4 million needed to reach the company’s 50 percent growth target. While sales increased 40 percent year-over-year, production rose 47 percent to 1.37 Million.

The shortfall came despite a major year-end sales push that included rare $7,500 discounts in the U.S. on the Models Y and 3, the company’s top-selling models.

Tesla Inc. is located in Austin, Texas. It also had to deal in China with the rising incidences of COVID-19, which impacted its Shanghai factory.

Tesla sold more than 405,000 cars worldwide during the fourth quarter due to its extra U.S. push. Wall Street forecasts were not met. According to data provider FactSet, analysts expected 427,000 deliveries in October through December and 1.33million for the whole year.

“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,” Monday was the official day for the solar panel and electric vehicle companies.

Tesla didn’t roll out any new models last year, and it’s facing increasing competition from legacy automakers and startups such as Lucid and Rivian, which are continually introducing new electric vehicles.

Musk has however promised that the long-awaited Cybertruck electric pickup will be produced this year. The company has also started to deliver its electric semis.

Discounts were offered in the last two weeks, raising questions about whether there was a softening of demand for Tesla products, as the Federal Reserve raised interest rate to combat inflation.

That, coupled with Musk’s behavior after his $44 billion purchase of Twitter, helped to push Tesla shares down more than 65 percent last year, bumping Musk out of the top spot for the world’s wealthiest person, according to Forbes.

The company’s stock decline for the year, its worst ever, was more than triple the drop in the S&P 500, which was down 19.4 percent.

Musk wrote on Twitter Dec. 30 that the company’s long-term fundamentals are strong, but “short-term market madness” It is unpredictable.

Some investors are concerned that Musk’s Twitter activity has led to him being distracted from the company. Musk said last month that he plans to remain as Twitter’s CEO until he can find someone willing to replace him in the job.

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