Tesla reports record profits

Tesla reports record profits

NEW YORK: Tesla reported another banner quarter of profit growth Wednesday on pricier vehicles and said its 2022 output plan was on track despite ongoing supply chain problems and a hit from recent Covid-19 lockdown measures in China. Elon Musk’s high-flying electric vehicle company notched a new record in quarterly profits of $3.3 billion following the unveiling of new factories in Germany and the US state of Texas that have begun commercial deliveries.

Headwinds facing the company include increasing raw material costs, as well as a weeks-long outage at the Shanghai plant following the Chinese government’s latest Covid-19 restrictions. “Our own factories have been running below capacity for several quarters as supply chain became the main limiting factor, which is likely to continue through the rest of 2022,” Tesla said in its earnings press release.

Still Musk said it “seems likely” the company will produce more than one and a half million vehicles in 2022, which would be above the company’s long-term target of at least 50 percent output growth. “We are growing very rapidly year over year and remain confident of exceeding 50 percent growth fore forseeable future,” Musk said on a conference call with investors and analysts. “The future is