Tesla's billionaire CEO, Elon Musk, expects more robust shipments early in the second quarter.
Tesla's shipments of battery-powered cars and new crossovers cooled in the second quarter of the year's first three months as the ongoing production slowdown in China lasted longer than CEO Elon Musk anticipated due to the headache of starting a new factory in Germany and working through Texas.
The Austin-based automaker said it delivered 254,695 vehicles to customers worldwide in the three months ended June 30, up 26 percent year-on-year but down 18 percent from a record 310,048 in the 1st quarter of the previous year. The number was also below the estimated 258,000 shipments, the average for analysts polled by Forbes.
In its quarterly release, Tesla cited "continued supply chain challenges and plant closures beyond our control."
"While the year started with 1.5-1.6 million units as a scare for 2022 shipments (with an expanded target of 1.7 million), whispers are now approaching 1.4 million for the year when you consider the problems in China and globally, supply chain issues," said Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush, in a research note. He said the latest quarterly supply figures were "ugly and nothing to write home about."
The slowdown in China, Tesla's most lucrative market, comes after relative revenue and production growth stability for Elon Musk's powerhouse. In addition to the slower pace of shipments, the quarter also brought Tesla's first large-scale layoffs.
Musk, who predicted the US economy would collapse, would affect about 3.5 percent of the global workforce. This week, the releases included the removal of about 200 jobs for Tesla Autopilot team employees in San Mateo, California. Musk has also recently complained about difficult starting conditions for new gigafactories in Berlin and Austin, costing the company "billions."
"Factories in Berlin and Austin are huge money-making machines right now," Musk said in a May 31 interview with fans of the Silicon Valley owner Tesla. "Berlin also Austin are losing billions of dollars right now because of a lot of spending and almost no production."
