Photo: Tesla | Edited
Tesla released its Q1 2023 production and delivery numbers, beating analysts' expectations with nearly 423k deliveries. Not all is rosy in Tesla's backyard, as the Model S/X results are disappointing, pointing to a demand problem for the most expensive Tesla products.
Tesla's price cuts in January caused an uproar in the EV market, accelerating sales and putting pressure on rivals. Many predicted Tesla would post stellar results in Q1 because of these price adjustments. And it did, although the price cuts' influence may have been smaller than expected. Even some of the January orders have delivery windows outside the Q1 timeframe, so it's likely to see the price cuts influencing Q2 results more than it did for the period ending March 31.
Even without this beneficial influence, Tesla beat the Wall Street consensus of between 421K and 422K vehicles delivered in Q1 2023. The EV maker delivered 422,875 cars in the first three months of the year. The number represents a 36% increase over Q1 2022 results, although a modest 4% bump from Q4 2022. It's worth mentioning that Q1 is traditionally a weak season for car sales, and Tesla has posted minimum gains over Q4, if any, in the past.
Despite the impressive delivery results, some people still considered the numbers disappointing. The real story is how Reuters, a reputable news agency, had to rewrite the original article about Tesla's results. The headline "Tesla missed delivery estimates as price cuts fail to lure buyers" was changed to "Tesla posts record quarterly deliveries after price cuts, up 4% from Q4," and Reuters deleted the tweet after it was slapped with a Community Note. Later, Reuters rewrote the article and admitted it contained "incorrect information."
With four gigafactories operating in North America, Europe, and China, Tesla has produced 440,808 EVs in the first quarter, an impressive 44% increase from a year ago. As usual, most units produced are Model Y and Model 3, with 421,371 units. Model S/X production reached 19,437 units, down slightly from 20,613 in Q4 2022.
There's a question mark, though, as Tesla deliveries continue to be below production. Overall, Tesla delivered 17,933 fewer cars than it produced. This can be explained by the vehicles in transit to delivery centers. Still, in the case of Model S and Model X, the difference is quite significant, at 8,742 vehicles. The number represents almost half of the Model S/X cars produced in the quarter, a troubling discovery. It clearly shows that Tesla's most expensive products have a demand problem, and further price cuts are to be expected.
Tesla announced it would release the Q1 2023 financial results on April 19 after the market closes, followed by a Q&A session. The Q1 results put it well on track to reach the 1.8 million vehicle guidance for 2023. As Tesla ramps up production at Giga Berlin and Giga Austin, this should not be a problem unless deliveries fail to keep up.
Even without this beneficial influence, Tesla beat the Wall Street consensus of between 421K and 422K vehicles delivered in Q1 2023. The EV maker delivered 422,875 cars in the first three months of the year. The number represents a 36% increase over Q1 2022 results, although a modest 4% bump from Q4 2022. It's worth mentioning that Q1 is traditionally a weak season for car sales, and Tesla has posted minimum gains over Q4, if any, in the past.
Despite the impressive delivery results, some people still considered the numbers disappointing. The real story is how Reuters, a reputable news agency, had to rewrite the original article about Tesla's results. The headline "Tesla missed delivery estimates as price cuts fail to lure buyers" was changed to "Tesla posts record quarterly deliveries after price cuts, up 4% from Q4," and Reuters deleted the tweet after it was slapped with a Community Note. Later, Reuters rewrote the article and admitted it contained "incorrect information."
With four gigafactories operating in North America, Europe, and China, Tesla has produced 440,808 EVs in the first quarter, an impressive 44% increase from a year ago. As usual, most units produced are Model Y and Model 3, with 421,371 units. Model S/X production reached 19,437 units, down slightly from 20,613 in Q4 2022.
There's a question mark, though, as Tesla deliveries continue to be below production. Overall, Tesla delivered 17,933 fewer cars than it produced. This can be explained by the vehicles in transit to delivery centers. Still, in the case of Model S and Model X, the difference is quite significant, at 8,742 vehicles. The number represents almost half of the Model S/X cars produced in the quarter, a troubling discovery. It clearly shows that Tesla's most expensive products have a demand problem, and further price cuts are to be expected.
Tesla announced it would release the Q1 2023 financial results on April 19 after the market closes, followed by a Q&A session. The Q1 results put it well on track to reach the 1.8 million vehicle guidance for 2023. As Tesla ramps up production at Giga Berlin and Giga Austin, this should not be a problem unless deliveries fail to keep up.
CORRECTION: Tesla posts record quarterly deliveries after price cuts, up 4% from Q4. An earlier tweet about Tesla's deliveries contained incorrect information. We are deleting that tweet https://t.co/0SdQvwud7K pic.twitter.com/784iU9bRRd
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 2, 2023
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