Tesla succeeded in maneuvering itself through Q1 2022, with the company achieving a higher delivery output than last year despite supply chain challenges and factory shutdowns.
According to the company's report, it had produced over 350,000 vehicles and delivered over 310,000, which included its Model 3/Y, Tesla's most popular car model based on its findings. This also means a rise of about 70% in production compared to its 2021 first-quarter report of 184,800 EVs.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk called Q1 2022 "an exceptionally difficult quarter" in his tweet about it due to the supply chain interruptions and China's Zero COVID policy.
Tesla Q1 2022 Performance Details
According to Tesla's findings, it produced 305,407 cars during the covered period, with 291,189 of them being Model 3/Ys and the remaining 14,218 being Model S/Xs.
Despite the achievement, Tesla produced more than four thousand cars than it delivered during Q1 2022 due to the previously mentioned reasons, CNBC reported.
Meanwhile, of the 310,048 car deliveries made, 14,724 of them were deliveries for Model S/Xs, while 295,324 were for Model 3/Ys.
Based on these findings, the company navigated through Q1 2022 better than its rivals, with its new Shanghai factory driving its growth, per Reuters.
The company's rivals, Toyota, General Motors, and Hyundai Motor, reported on April 1 that they had lower U.S. sales in Q1 2022 compared to the same period in 2021.
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These findings also mean that the record number for the company is just higher than last quarter's 308,600 deliveries, but a rise of about 70% from the 184,800 deliveries reported for the year-ago period, per CNET.
However, CNBC mentioned that analysts expected the automaker to make 317,000 vehicle deliveries for Q1 2022, according to estimates made by Financial Data and Software Company Factset as of March 31. Based on this estimate, Tesla was unable to meet analysts' expectations by around 6,950 car deliveries.
The estimate Factset gave Tesla ranged from a low of 278,000 vehicle deliveries to a high of 357,000.
On the other hand, Gene Munster, Managing Partner at Loup Ventures, said that the number of Tesla's successful deliveries was "impressive given all the headwinds." He also added that he expects the company to continue outperforming other automakers in sales growth.
Factors That Affected Tesla's Growth
Reuters mentioned in its report that Tesla's Shanghai and Fremont, California factories played a critical part in its achievement during Q1 2022 and its goal to boost deliveries by 50 percent this year.
Musk previously mentioned in October 2021 that the output of its Shanghai factory surpassed the output from its Fremont, California factory, per Inside EVs. He now plans to build a new factory in Shanghai to increase its production in the country and cater to the growing export demand, per Techwire Asia.
The ongoing semiconductor shortage also affected Tesla's capability to manufacture its cars, but the company managed to work around it by swapping in available chips for those that are hard to get, per The New York Times.
Gas price increases further increased demand for electric cars, but inventory shortages and higher vehicle prices detrimentally affected Tesla's sales during Q1 2022.
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