Reduced pricing strategy and several "unpredictable issues" have decreased Tesla's profit - in the first quarter, the company earned $1.13 billion (55% less than last year).
The company's total revenue also showed a decrease of 9% - to $21.3 billion.
During the report, Tesla noted that in the first quarter, it faced "numerous challenges" - including the conflict in the Red Sea, the arson at Gigafactory Berlin, and the gradual development of the updated Model 3 at its factory in Fremont. The company also added that global electric vehicle sales continue to be under pressure as many automakers prefer hybrid vehicles. On the other hand, this approach means that they continue to purchase regulatory credits 
Car manufacturers that do not meet the environmental standards of countries and want to avoid issues with regulators are forced to buy so-called regulatory credits from other companies that comply with the requirements - for example, from Tesla, which exclusively produces electric vehicles - on this, Musk's company earned $422 million.
"The global expansion of electric vehicles is under pressure, and many other car manufacturers are abandoning electric vehicles and instead focusing on hybrids. We believe this is not the right strategy, and electric vehicles will eventually dominate the market," said Tesla CEO Elon Musk during the report.
At the same time, after the financial results were announced, Tesla's shares increased by 12% - presumably, investors were interested in the company's comments regarding future products (in particular, plans to launch several affordable cars in early 2025).
"These new vehicles, including more affordable models, will utilize aspects of the next-generation platform, as well as aspects of our current platforms," Musk said. "And we will be able to produce them on the same production lines where we create the current range of cars."
Tesla's electric vehicle sales have been growing over the past few years, reaching a new record of 1.8 million units in 2023. In the first quarter of 2024, the company delivered 386,810 vehicles (20% less compared to 484,507 vehicles delivered in the last quarter of 2023 and 8.5% less than in the first quarter of 2023).
Currently, the company's only new model is the expensive (and demanding) Cybertruck; the automaker has also introduced new variations of existing models, including the Tesla Model 3 Performance. During the January report, Musk stated that production of a smaller and more affordable electric vehicle will begin in late 2025 at the company's Texas factory, and then expand to another yet-to-be-built factory in Mexico. Three months later, the plans seem to have changed in favor of robo-taxis (built on the platform for a cheaper car priced at $25,000), which are likely to be unveiled in August.
A few weeks ago, Tesla downsized its workforce by 10% and engaged in restructurings focused on autonomy. Two senior executives - Drew Baglino, Senior Vice President of Powertrains and Energy at Tesla, and Rohan Patel, Vice President of Government Affairs and Business Development - have also left the company. Tesla's CFO Vaibhav Taneja expects that the workforce reduction will result in over $1 billion in savings annually.
Source: TechCrunch
Comments (0)
There are no comments for now