Tesla surges past mounting costs with EV price hikes

Tesla Inc’s first-quarter earnings results raced past market expectations on Wednesday as higher vehicle prices helped insulate the firm from rising material costs.

The leading electric vehicle maker reported quarterly revenue of $18.76 billion, compared with the forecasted $17.80 billion.

Subsequently, automotive revenue reached $16.86 billion, representing an 87.00% increase from last year. Regulatory credits accounted for $679.00 million of the segment’s profit for the quarter.

Then, the automotive gross margins jumped to a record 32.90%. Consequently, Tesla posted a gross profit of $5.54 billion in its main segment.

The jump in the number of cars that Tesla delivered mainly drove revenue growth. In addition, the firm noted an increase in average sales prices.

Early this month, the automaker reported vehicle deliveries of 310,048 for the first quarter. Accordingly, Model 3 and Model Y vehicles comprised 95.00%, or 295,324, of the deliveries.

On its earnings call, Tesla remained confident that it could grow at least 50.00% over 2021. However, it cited that it has lost about a month of build volume in Shanghai due to Covid-related lockdowns.

Nevertheless, it assured that production would resume at limited levels. At the same time, it said it would work to get back to entire operations as quickly as possible.

CEO Elon Musk cautioned that customers ordering now would face a long waitlist. Consequently, some orders would not arrive until next year.

Meanwhile, he declined to give details on a robotaxi that he previously said was in progress. Musk announced that the firm would hold an event next year for the futuristic vehicle. He further stated that the company aims for volume production in 2024.

Tesla’s global vehicle inventory dwindles

Tesla’s Q1 global vehicle inventory plummeted to a three-day supply amid inflationary pressures and semiconductor chip shortages. The level was down from a four-day supply in the previous quarter.

In the energy segment, its solar deployments dropped by nearly half to 48 MW. Nevertheless, the firm deployed 846 MWh of lithium ion-based battery energy storage systems. This reflects an upswing of 90.00% from the same time last year.

The automaker explained that the drop in solar deployments is due to import delays on specific components. Musk warned that supply chain constraints are likely to continue through 2022.

Tesla shares rose 5.52% or 53.98 points to $1,031.18 per share during Wednesday’s after-hours trading. It reversed a downturn of 4.96% or 50.95 points to $977.20 per share in the regular hours market.