Picture Credit: Dmitry Novikov
Tesla has had an amazing year of sales despite all the setbacks that the company has had to face. Tesla has produced and sold an astounding 936,000 new vehicles this year, with 308,600 cars being produced in the final quarter alone!
Daniel Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities noted that these results are proof of Tesla’s growing popularity in China and their ability to navigate through 2021’s semiconductor shortages. “This is a trophy-case quarter for Tesla as the company blew away even bull-case expectations”. He further commented that this year’s production was a “jaw-dropping performance by Musk and Co. in the December quarter with massive tailwinds into 2022”.
Tesla’s share price skyrocketed this year as well. Although the share price fell by 1.3% on December 31st and closed at $1056.78, 2021 was also the year that Tesla’s share price ballooned over $1200 as of November 1st. In 2021 Tesla’s stock price grew over 50% and they became one of only five publicly listed US-based companies to cross a market evaluation of over one trillion dollars.
What’s most impressive was the conditions that they were able to achieve these results in. 2021 was described by Elon Musk himself as a “supply chain nightmare”. With the spread of the super contagious Delta variant of the Coronavirus running rampage throughout the world, supply chains were pushed to their limits. Additionally, there was also a semiconductor shortage this year and tech companies struggled to produce new chips to power their digital systems. Nevertheless, Tesla was able to forge forwards and secure exceptional results as more and more cars in the world turn electric.
However, it wasn’t all good news for the EV giant this year. Over 475,000 Tesla cars have had to be recalled due to defects discovered both in the front trunk of the Model S and rear-view cameras on the Tesla Model 3. Both defects have said to increase the risk of accidents and thus the cars have been recalled immediately. The company is also under investigation for 11 accidents related to the Autopilot feature.
Tesla has an ambitious target to revolutionise the motoring industry, and it has so far been an essential catalyst to pivot the industry away from traditional combustion engines in the wake of climate change concerns. However, the company still has a long way to go.
January 03rd 2022 | 11:00 PM