Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) essentially bucked the auto industry in the first quarter of 2022. Despite shutdowns in its Shanghai plant, rising nickel prices, and the ongoing supply chain crisis, Tesla successfully delivered 310,048 cars worldwide. This represented a slight increase from the 309,000 it delivered last quarter and a whopping 68% increase from Q1 2021.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives noted that Tesla’s deliveries were “better than feared” considering the pervading supply chain issues affecting the auto segment today. According to Ives, the challenges that Tesla faced in the first quarter, which was widely recognized by CEO Elon Musk on Twitter, would likely push some deliveries that were initially intended for Q1 into the following quarters.
“We believe roughly 20k-25k units were pushed out of 1Q into 2Q due to the logistical and factory issues, which makes this underlying demand number still look strong with a robust trajectory for the rest of 2022,” Ives noted. The analyst also noted that Tesla’s results were impressive in light of the Covid shutdowns in China — which shut down Gigafactory Shanghai’s vehicle production activities — and logistics issues in delivering cars to Europe.
Overall, Tesla’s results appear to be appreciated by the company’s investors, with the company’s stock rising about 1.8% on Monday’s premarket.
Tesla’s Q1 2022 results stand in sharp contrast to those of other automakers. Supply chain issues similar to those faced by Tesla also plagued the greater auto sector, and it showed in their numbers. In the United States, new vehicle sales fell about 12% in the first quarter compared with a year ago. General Motors noted that its sales were down 20% for the quarter, while Toyota’s sales fell by 15%. Stellantis’ sales dropped 14%, and Nissan declined by a substantial 30%. Honda also reported a 23% decline in the United States, while Hyundai registered a measly 4% drop.
Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds’ executive director of insights, noted that the lack of inventory is one of the reasons behind the drop in the US’ new vehicle sales in Q1 2022. “Skyrocketing gas prices were top of mind for consumers in March, but the lack of inventory is what ultimately depressed new vehicle sales in the first quarter,” she said.
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