Tesla has delivered a record number of electric cars in recent months

Tesla has never delivered as many electric cars as in the past few months. The American carmaker around the much-discussed billionaire Elon Musk reports that more than 405,000 new Teslas were owned in the last quarter of 2022. That was well below analysts’ expectations.

Experts surveyed by the Bloomberg news agency had expected an average of almost 421,000 deliveries. Tesla is struggling with high inflation, rising interest rates and lower production in China, among other things. The company also struggled with supply chain issues. The numbers from the Austin-based market leader are considered a good indicator of overall demand for electric cars. Tesla is largest in the US and China.

Tesla produced almost 440,000 cars from October to December. The Model 3 and Model Y are the brand’s flagship models.

Production of 1.37 million Tesla

For all of 2022, Tesla’s production totaled nearly 1.37 million cars, up 47 percent year-on-year. Deliveries rose last year by 40 percent to 1.31 million vehicles.

Tesla has factories in Fremont, California and near the Chinese metropolis of Shanghai. The manufacturer has also started deliveries from new factories near Berlin and Austin, Texas. “We continue the transition to a more regional mix for auto production,” the company said in a statement accompanying the figures.

First electric truck

In December, Tesla delivered its first electric truck. The first Semi was delivered to soft drink and snack maker PepsiCo.

Tesla has had a dramatic year on the New York Stock Exchange. In 2022, the stock collapsed by 65 percent. Part of the reason for this was shareholder concerns that CEO Musk is spending too much time on social media company Twitter, which he bought. Musk has already sold billions of dollars of stock to fund this $44 billion acquisition.