Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.
Tesla yesterday announced its record Q4 2022 earnings, achieving new highs in revenue, production and delivery for the full year.
Elon Musk started the Q4 2022 earnings call by addressing a common question from investors in regard to demand.
Musk explained, “Thus far — so I want to put that concern to rest. Thus far in January, we’ve seen the strongest orders year-to-date than ever in our history. We currently are seeing orders at almost twice the rate of production.”
“So, I mean, that — it’s not to say whether that will continue twice the rate of production, but the orders are high. And we’ve actually raised the Model Y price a little bit in response to that,” said Musk. The Model Y recently increased by $500 in the U.S.
“So, we don’t — we think demand will be good despite probably a contraction in the automotive market as a whole. So, basically, price really matters. I think there’s just a vast number of people that want to buy a Tesla car, but can’t afford it,” said Musk.
As for prices, Tesla recently cut prices by up to 20%, shaking up the auto industry.
“And so these price changes really make a difference for the average consumer. And sometimes for those — for people who are well — who have a lot of money, they sort of forget about how important affordability is,” continued Musk.
“And it’s always been our goal at Tesla to make cars that are affordable to as many people as possible, so I’m glad that we’re able to do so. And yes, so I think it’s a good thing, all things considered. We’re also making very good progress on cost control and we’re seeing the cost production in Berlin and Austin drop commensurate with the growth in production, as you’d expect, so yeah,” said Musk.
Tesla says the Cybertruck is on track to start production this summer and there are now 400,000 Full Self-Driving (FSD) beta testers in Canada and the USA. The company’s annual guidance is for 1.8 million cars produced in 2023, but 2 million might be possible, depending on external factors.
You can click here to read the entire Tesla Q4 2022 earnings call transcript. A full replay of the call is below:
