Tesla announced that a new model is about to be launched, which will put pressure on sales.
On January 25th, Tesla released its fourth quarter financial report after hours on Wednesday. The financial report shows that in the fourth quarter of 2023, the company's total revenue was 25.167 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 3%, and analysts expected it to be 25.87 billion US dollars; The net profit attributable to common shareholders was 7.928 billion US dollars, an increase of 115% year-on-year; The net profit attributable to common shareholders under non GAAP accounting standards was $2.486 billion, a decrease of 39% year-on-year. In terms of gross profit margin, the gross profit margin for the fourth quarter was 17.6%, while analysts expected it to be 18.1%.
Similar to previous quarters, Tesla remained profitable in the fourth quarter despite facing impacts such as average selling prices and Cybertruck ramp ups. However, multiple financial indicators did not meet analyst expectations.
Looking ahead to 2024, Tesla stated that its sales growth rate will be significantly lower than in 2023.
In 2023, Tesla's total delivery volume was 1.8 million vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 38%, with a record of 484500 vehicles delivered in the fourth quarter.
Tesla stated in its financial report that the sales growth rate in 2024 may be significantly lower than the growth rate in 2023, as our team is committed to launching the next generation of cars at a super factory in Texas. Meanwhile, Tesla did not provide a specific delivery volume outlook for 2024, as the company had previously set an average annual delivery growth rate of 50%.
During the earnings conference call, Tesla's CFO also responded that Tesla will not grow at the same rate during certain periods.
Regarding the new model, Tesla stated, "We are committed to bringing the next-generation platform to the market as soon as possible and plan to start production at a super factory in Texas. This platform will completely change the way vehicles are manufactured."
At the subsequent earnings conference call, Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated that the next generation of cars is expected to enter production in the second half of 2025.
Musk emphasized that the production of new car models will be a challenging project, but once optimized, it may change the game rules of large-scale automobile production. He also stated that he will "sleep on the production line". For a long time, sleeping on the production line has become Musk's personal label.
Musk also pointed out that Tesla has made significant progress in the development of the next generation platform, and the car will begin production at a super factory in Texas because Tesla makes it easier for engineers to participate in the project. Subsequently, production will take place at other locations such as the Mexican super factory. "We are very excited about Tesla's next car."
Previously, foreign media reported that Tesla's next generation car was codenamed "Redwood", but details have not been disclosed yet. According to Musk's previous public statement, the new car will focus more on affordability, which will also be the key to Tesla's future growth.
As of the close on January 24th local time, Tesla was trading at $207.83, a decrease of 0.63%. It is worth noting that Tesla fell more than 4% after the financial report was released.