The
company delivered 499,550 vehicles during 2020, above Wall
Street estimates of 481,261 vehicles, according to Refinitiv
data - but 450 units shy of CEO Elon Musk's target.
Musk tweeted
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/
status/1345382294966571008?s=21 he was "proud of the Tesla team
for achieving this major milestone."
"At the start of Tesla, I thought we had (optimistically) a 10%
chance of surviving at all," he said.
On Twitter, congratulations from supporters and bullish
investors poured in, lauding the electric vehicle maker for its
stellar year, which has defied wider auto industry trends of
slumping sales, quarterly losses and global supply chain
disruptions.
Tesla's share price has risen more than 700% over the last year,
the company has reported five consecutive quarterly profits and
in December it was included in the S&P 500 index.
But some online investor accounts criticized Tesla for saying it
had achieved its guidance.
Tesla at the start of 2020 said it would "comfortably exceed
500,000 units" for the year, a target it has left unchanged
despite the pandemic. Chief Financial Officer Zachary Kirkhorn
in October said Tesla was "aiming to achieve (its) original 2020
guidance."
Tesla has pinned hopes on new markets such as Europe and Asia,
with competition intensifying in its home turf as legacy
automakers double down on their investments in the booming EV
space.
Tesla's delivery push has been supported by its new Shanghai
factory, the only plant currently producing vehicles outside
California. The carmaker said https://ir.tesla.com/press-release/tesla-q4-2020-vehicle-production-deliveries
Model Y production in Shanghai has begun, with deliveries
expected shortly.
Palo Alto, California-based Tesla said it delivered 180,570
vehicles during the fourth quarter, a quarterly record for the
electric carmaker, beating estimates of 163,628 vehicles.
(Reporting by Munsif Vengattil, Eva Mathews and Derek Francis in
Bengaluru and Tina Bellon in New York; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
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