Tesla has announced bumper profits despite supply chain difficulties and, in Elon Musk, a CEO who seems to seek out controversy.
The electric car maker has reported $3.3 billion profits on $18.8 billion in revenue for the first quarter of 2022. This beats analyst predictions and represents a startling 81% increase over the previous year.
Deliveries are up 68% despite ongoing supply constraints and the forced closure of its Shanghai factory owing to Covid restrictions. Tesla admits that its factories “have been running below capacity for several quarters”.
Together with the war in Ukraine and a spike in the cost of raw materials, Tesla has been forced to raise the prices of its electric vehicles in a number of territories. None of this appears to have dented the thirst for Tesla’s products, however.
Speaking in a call with investors, company CEO Elon Musk said that he’s “never been more optimistic or excited about the future of Tesla than I am right now.”
He predicted that his company would be back on track with deliveries from the next quarter, and that the company was on to produce 1.5 million cars by the end of 2022.
Musk could be forgiven for being a little distracted, what with the recent furore surrounding his involvement with Twitter.
Having quietly acquired a 9.2% stake in the social network and threatened to join the board, Musk has subsequently changed his mind, been sued by an angry investor, and offered to buy the whole company for $43.4 billion – all within the space of a few weeks.
