Despite high inflation, economic concerns and supply chain problems, Tesla earned more in 2022 than ever before in a fiscal year. The electric car group from star entrepreneur Elon Musk increased its profit by 128 percent compared to the previous year to 12.6 billion dollars (11.5 billion euros), as Tesla announced after the US stock market closed. The proceeds grew accordingly by 51 percent to 81.5 billion dollars. However, 2023 could be more difficult. Management knows that there are questions about the "uncertain economic environment," the letter to shareholders said.
Nevertheless, the market leader in the e-car segment also set ambitious goals for the new year. Tesla wants to increase production "as soon as possible" in 2023 and sees itself on course to deliver around 1.8 million cars. The group confirmed that it would continue to aim for annual growth of 50 percent in the longer term. But Tesla missed this goal as early as 2022 - instead, deliveries increased by 40 percent to 1.3 million electric cars. In the three months to the end of December, they only grew by 31 percent compared to the previous year.
Recently, the company's price cuts have raised further concerns among investors about a possible dwindling demand and angered owners of older Teslas because of the dwindling residual value of their cars. But Musk's group continues to focus on rapid growth - production capacity was roughly doubled in 2022. Tesla mainly blamed the situation in China for the production and delivery problems last year, where corona lockdowns put a heavy strain on the large plant in Shanghai.
Musk angered investors
In the final quarter, Tesla increased net income 59 percent year over year to $3.7 billion. Revenue increased 37 percent to $24.3 billion. The company thus achieved new records at the end of the year. The numbers exceeded analysts' expectations. Nevertheless, investors reacted cautiously, the share initially did not find a clear direction after trading.
Tesla already had a difficult time on the financial market last year. The share price collapsed by around 65 percent in 2022, but recently it has been up a bit again. Elon Musk's escapades surrounding the controversial takeover of the online platform Twitter and his Tesla share sales to finance the around $44 billion deal were badly received by investors. There have already been complaints from influential major shareholders that the tech multi-billionaire - who also runs space and rocket company SpaceX - is neglecting Tesla too much.
