By temp-64GTX @Shutterstock
At The Wall Street Journal, Rebecca Elliot reports that Tesla posted a greater-than-sevenfold increase in first-quarter profits to reach a record. The company could boost vehicle production this year despite supply chain bottlenecks and disruptions in China from COVID-related lockdowns. She writes:
Tesla Inc. (TSLA) posted a greater-than-sevenfold increase in first-quarter profit to reach a record as Chief Executive Elon Musk said the company could boost vehicle production more than expected this year despite supply-chain bottlenecks and disruptions in China.
Mr. Musk on Wednesday said Tesla likely would produce more than 1.5 million vehicles in 2022, up some 60% over last year. The company’s long-term goal is to increase vehicle deliveries by an average of 50% annually. Production in China would recover strongly, he said.
The world’s largest car company by value is recovering from a shutdown at its Shanghai factory, where work was suspended March 28 because of strict government measures meant to slow the spread of Covid-19. Tesla said it lost about a month of production from the shutdown.
“We remain confident of a 50% growth in vehicle production in 2022 vs 2021, we actually have a reasonable shot at a 60% increase over last year”. – Elon Musk
“Shanghai is coming back with a vengeance,” Mr. Musk said as the company reported that sales in the first three months of the year had jumped roughly 80% from a year earlier to $18.76 billion, generating a record profit of $3.32 billion. That topped the previous high of $2.3 billion set in the preceding quarter. Results beat Wall Street’s expectations for both sales and profit.
