Tesla had record 2022 sales – but still didn’t match Elon Musk’s promises

Tesla CEO Elon Musk visiting the construction site of a new Tesla factory in Berlin (Credit: Getty)

Take a look at the Tesla stock price, and you’d be convinced the electric car company had a disastrous 2022.

In fact, Tesla managed to shift a record 1.31 million vehicles over the last 12 months.

The company reported a production increase of 47 per cent, delivering over 405,000 vehicles in its fourth quarter – up from 308,600 in the same period last year.

Despite being a record for Tesla, the amount fell short of analyst’s expectations and, crucially, promises made by boss Elon Musk.

Musk had pledged that Tesla would grow sales by 50 per cent nearly every year.

‘Over a multi-year horizon we expect to achieve 50 per cent average annual growth in vehicle deliveries. The rate of growth will depend on our equipment capacity, factory uptime, operational efficiency and the capacity and stability of the supply chain,’ Tesla said in its third quarter 2022 shareholder presentation.

At the end of the year, Tesla noted sales of its entry-level Model 3 and crossover Model Y came to 388,131 vehicles. The Model S sedan and Model X SUV added to 17,147 deliveries.

‘Thank you to all of our customers, employees, suppliers, shareholders, and supporters who helped us achieve a great 2022 in light of significant Covid and supply chain-related challenges throughout the year,’ Tesla said in a statement.

Tesla Model 3 vehicles are seen at its factory in Shanghai in China (Credit: Reuters)

While Tesla may be celebrating what it has achieved, plenty of shareholders are abandoning the company.

Tesla’s shares have fallen 73% from their record high in November 2021 and, in this year alone, the stock dropped 69%. The company, which was worth $1.2 trillion at the start of 2022, lost a staggering $800 billion (£661 billion) over the course of the year.

The EV pioneer said it would post its financial results for the final quarter and the full year on Wednesday, 25th January, 2023.

‘Our net income and cash flow results will be announced along with the rest of our financial performance when we announce Q4 and full year 2022 earnings,’ it said.

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Tesla managed to shift a record 1.31 million vehicles over the last 12 months.