While Elon Musk’s company Tesla avoided a production slump in the first three months of 2022, a series of interconnected global events, including a nearly complete production halt at its Shanghai factory between April and July as a result of zero-covid regulations, finally caught up with the Elon Musk-led company. The largest electric car manufacturer in the world produced 258,580 vehicles in the most recent quarter, a decrease of 15% from the first three months of 2022 but still more than in any previous quarter before Q4 2021.
The automaker acknowledged in their most recent shareholder deck that due to outside influences, it is not always possible to run all of its factories at the intended output pace. A labor shortage was one among the concerns listed, which is interestingly a result, at least in part, of Tesla’s own policy. Along with announcing plans to fire 10% of its employees worldwide, Musk’s business is also accused of underpaying staff at the Brandenburg Gigafactory in Germany, which has slowed hiring overall.
The following figure illustrates how Tesla significantly increased their production capacity over the previous few years. After producing 254,530 vehicles in 2018, the company anticipates producing one million vehicles year, but continued supply issues and the global economic crisis may prevent this from happening. Tesla is still anticipating a “record-breaking second half of 2022” as a result of the surge in production at its Fremont and Shanghai factories at the conclusion of Q2 2002. The expected annual production capacity established among its four plants totals 1.9 million automobiles, which would be roughly twice as many cars as Tesla produced in 2021 and yet allow room for expansion over the following several years.
Do also check out our chart home page for more charts like this.
