Tesla reported Sunday that it delivered 936,000 cars in 2021, an 87 p.c improve from the 12 months earlier than, regardless of the pc chip scarcity that has disrupted auto manufacturing around the globe.

In the fourth quarter alone, the corporate delivered greater than 308,000 autos, a 71 p.c improve from the quarter a 12 months earlier. The overwhelming share of the deliveries had been of the Model three sedan and the Model Y hatchback. Wall Street analysts had been anticipating deliveries of about 266,000 automobiles in the fourth quarter, and about 855,000 for the 12 months.

“The numbers are hard to poke holes in,” Daniel Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, wrote in a notice to buyers. “While there are many competitors in the E.V. space, Tesla continues to dominate market share as evidenced again this quarter.”

Tesla elevated gross sales regardless of a worldwide scarcity of laptop chips, which function the brains for a wide range of electronics, together with engine controllers and contact screens. The scarcity compelled most automakers to idle some vegetation for weeks at a time and saved them from producing as many autos as that they had deliberate.

In July, Tesla’s chief govt, Elon Musk, mentioned his firm was overcoming the scarcity by switching to sorts of chips that had been extra available and writing new directions, or firmware, to be embedded into the chip. Tesla could make such a swap as a result of the parts in its automobiles are designed to be managed largely by software program.

Tesla doesn’t escape its deliveries by nation. Much of its current development has been propelled by gross sales in Europe and China.

The leap in deliveries capped a momentous 12 months in which Tesla’s inventory worth and earnings soared. It has additionally labored to open factories close to Austin, Texas, in addition to Berlin, in hopes of sustaining its speedy development.

In October, Tesla’s market worth for the primary time exceeded $1 trillion, making it extra beneficial than General Motors, Ford Motor, Toyota, Volkswagen, Stellantis, BMW and several other different automakers mixed.

On Friday, Tesla’s inventory closed at $1,056.78, up from just below $700 on the finish of 2020. The inventory’s rise was fueled by rising gross sales and earnings. In the third quarter, the company earned $1.6 billion, greater than double its earnings in all of 2020, its first profitable year.

With shares at dizzying heights, Mr. Musk started promoting giant chunks of his inventory, partly to cover taxes, after taking a ballot amongst his followers on Twitter. Several instances he mentioned he was achieved promoting however continued.

In whole, Mr. Musk sold more than $16 billion worth of Tesla stock. The transactions concerned the exercising of 22.eight million choices awarded to Mr. Musk as a part of his compensation and bonus packages.

Tesla has mentioned it hopes deliveries will improve about 50 p.c a 12 months for the following a number of years, and is relying on output from its Austin and Berlin factories to achieve its purpose. Both factories are anticipated to start producing Model Y hatchbacks quickly.

At the identical time, Tesla’s product high quality has remained uneven. On Thursday, the corporate advised federal regulators that it planned to recall more than 475,000 cars for 2 separate defects that might have an effect on security — a misaligned latch on the entrance hood, which may permit the hood to open unexpectedly, and wiring to the rearview digicam that may be broken by opening and shutting the trunk. A day later, autos in China had been recalled as properly.

In addition, the corporate and its Autopilot driver-assistance system have come underneath nearer scrutiny by security regulators in the United States. Teslas have been concerned in a sequence of crashes with different autos, together with some that resulted in fatalities, whereas the Autopilot system was engaged.

The firm continues to promote its Autopilot system, which might take over among the steering, braking and accelerating duties from drivers, and a extra superior set of options, Full Self Driving, that it gives for $10,000 however has to this point allowed solely a choose group of shoppers to check.

In August, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened a formal investigation into how Autopilot acknowledges objects on the street. It is particularly wanting into 11 cases when Teslas crashed into emergency autos that had stopped on highways and had their lights flashing.

The company can be taking a look at greater than two dozen different crashes involving Teslas that had been underneath Autopilot management. Eight of these crashes have resulted in a complete of 10 deaths because the first occurred in 2016.



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