Tesla Delivered Over 310,000 Vehicles Despite ‘Exceptionally Difficult Quarter’

Tesla said it delivered more than 305,000 electric vehicles in the first quarter of 2022, a record number in line with analysts’ expectations, even as production suffered from supply chain constraints and COVID-related factory shutdowns.

The company announced in early April that it had produced 305,407 vehicles, including 291,189 Model 3s and Model Ys, 14,218 Model Ss and Model Xs in the first quarter of this year. Deliveries also increased, as Tesla said it delivered 310,048 vehicles between January and March, more than in any previous quarter. By comparison, in the same quarter last year, Tesla shipped just 185,000 cars.

Electric car shipments have therefore reached a new milestone, as car manufacturers around the world face significant problems on production lines due to the global shortage of semiconductorsfrom COVID-19 and soaring commodity prices.

Despite a sales record, Tesla had a very difficult quarter.

On Twitter, Elon Musk congratulated his teams, but also recalled that the company had gone through a very complicated start to the year. ” This quarter was exceptionally difficult due to supply chain disruptions and China’s zero COVID policy “, can we read in the message of the CEO.

Indeed, last month, Tesla has closed its Shanghai Gigafactory for two days due to a spike in COVID-19 cases, and closed the plant once again last week as Shanghai continues to face general containment. The Shanghai factory is the company’s largest, producing both Model 3s and Model Ys, some of which are destined for the French market. Model Ys for the European market are now manufactured at the new Gigafactory in Berlin, which recently officially started production at the end of March.

If Tesla continues on this path, the automaker could well cross the barrier of one million vehicles shipped in 2022. We imagine that this will not be too difficult, since Tesla can now count on its new German factory, and its Texas factory will also soon be manufacturing its first cars. As a reminder, in 2021, Tesla was not very far from the million. The company had announced that it had sold a total of 936,172 vehicles, which is still more than any of its competitors in the electric market.