A double whammy of a global shortage of chips and ships is the only thing standing in the way of Tesla Inc maintaining sales growth in excess of 50 percent, according to CEO Elon Musk.
“We’ve had a fantastic year, we had record vehicle deliveries,” Musk told Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting in Austin, Texas, on Thursday. “It looks like we have a good chance of maintaining that. Basically, if we can get the chips, we can do it. Hopefully this chip shortage will alleviate soon but I feel confident of being able to maintain something like at least above 50 percent for quite a while.”
While the chip shortage has dominated auto-industry headlines this year, Musk said the electric-car maker was grappling with “lots” of supply chain challenges.
Photo: AP
“One of the biggest challenges we had in Q3 was, can we get enough ships,” he said, referring to a backlog of cargo ships that has been occurring for much of the year.
The chip shortage does not appear to be slowing Tesla just yet. The company earlier this week reported record deliveries of 241,300 cars worldwide in the third quarter, beating the previous high of 201,250 vehicles in the second quarter.
Tesla’s numbers compare favorably with the rest of the auto industry, which saw US vehicle sales slump in the latest three-month period due to limits on production from supply chain shortages. General Motors Co took the biggest blow, with sales in its home market dropping by a third in the latest quarter.
Musk said the “significant cost pressure” in the supply chain had forced Tesla to increase vehicle prices, at least temporarily.
“The sheer amount of money we’re spending on flying parts around the world isn’t great,” Musk said.
It could be at least 12 months before the situation starts to improve.
“We should be through our severe supply chain shortages in [2023],” he said. “I’m optimistic that will be the case.”
Tesla said it is moving its corporate headquarters to Austin, Texas, where a new factory for the Model Y and forthcoming Cybertruck is nearing completion, relocating from California after 18 years.
Musk announced the move at the Austin plant on Thursday during Tesla’s shareholders’ meeting.
Tesla is the latest California-based company to move to Texas, which has lower taxes, a lower cost of living and fewer business regulations. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co shifted its base to Houston, and Charles Schwab Corp moved its headquarters to the Dallas area from San Francisco.
The carmaker joins a number of other tech companies with operations in Austin. Dell Technologies was founded in the city, and Apple Inc and Facebook Inc have a large presence there.
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