On October 19th, Tesla released its third quarter financial report for 2023, showing year-on-year growth in production, delivery, and revenue, reaching $23.4 billion in revenue. At the financial report conference call, Tesla CEO Elon Musk expressed his views on topics of external concern such as autonomous driving, Cyberrack, and energy storage business.
According to the financial report, Tesla's total revenue in the third quarter was approximately 23.4 billion US dollars (approximately 171.2 billion RMB), a year-on-year increase of 9%, which is the slowest growth rate in more than three years; Net profit of approximately 1.9 billion US dollars (approximately 13.9 billion RMB); The market's most concerned gross profit margin dropped to 17.9%, slightly lower than Wall Street's expected 18%. In the first three quarters of 2023, over 1.324 million electric vehicles have been delivered, exceeding the total of 1.314 million vehicles in 2022.
In terms of automotive business, Tesla produced a total of 430500 vehicles in the third quarter, an increase of 18% year-on-year; The total shipment volume was 435100 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 27%. Tesla's automotive business revenue was $19.625 billion, a year-on-year increase of 5%, but the gross profit and gross profit margin of the automotive business were not disclosed. It is reported that the profit margin of the automotive business is a measure of Tesla's profitability, which has attracted attention from investors and the market.
At the financial report conference call, Musk stated that Tesla FSD's global testing mileage has reached 500 million miles (approximately 803 million kilometers). Due to the increase in data volume and the demand for humanoid robot business, Tesla's artificial intelligence training computing volume has more than doubled in the third quarter.
In terms of energy storage business, Tesla's deployment of energy storage in the third quarter was 4 gigawatt hours (equivalent to 4 billion watt hours), a year-on-year increase of 90%, making it the highest quarterly installed capacity in history. Tesla stated that energy storage is becoming one of the company's most profitable and promising businesses. Currently, the energy and services sectors have contributed over $500 million in quarterly profits to the company.
Musk said, "The importance of cost cannot be overemphasized. Tesla's products must be made more affordable so that people can afford them
Tesla's Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer, Vaibhav Taneja, also expressed a similar view, stating that Tesla will steadfastly pursue further cost reduction in 2024, which will involve engineering and factory operations.
The person in charge of Tesla told Securities Daily that the company's main goal remains unchanged in the third quarter of 2023, which is to reduce bicycle costs, generate free cash flow, maximize delivery, and continue to invest in growth projects such as artificial intelligence.
Tesla's single car cost has dropped to $37500 in the third quarter. In order to further reduce unit costs, Tesla implemented necessary production line upgrades in the third quarter. The aforementioned Tesla person in charge stated that an industry leader must be a leader in cost control.
The financial report shows that as of now, Tesla's free cash flow has reached $2.3 billion. Tesla stated that the company's cash and investment balances are continuously improving.
Speaking of the highly anticipated Cyberrack, Musk stated that the new car will be delivered at a Texas super factory in November, and the current order volume has exceeded 1 million units. At the same time, on October 19, the new version of Model3 was officially launched in Chinese Mainland, and the first batch of delivery will be launched at the end of October, and test cars will also arrive in stores one after another at the end of October.
It is widely believed that the launch of the new Model 3 will help Tesla continue to achieve 50% compound annual growth in 2023, thereby achieving its delivery target of 1.8 million vehicles.