American electric car manufacturer Tesla increased sales by nine percent year-on-year to $23.35 billion (almost CZK 548 billion) in the third quarter. The company announced this in a press release on Wednesday. The result fell short of analysts’ estimates, who on average expected sales of over $24 billion. Profit fell 44 percent year-on-year to $1.85 billion. The company’s gross margin fell to 17.9 percent from 25.1 percent a year earlier, when the company had not yet started cutting prices. In the second quarter of this year, Tesla reported a gross margin of 18.2 percent. Margin missed estimates as did revenue and profit.
Tesla has recently cut prices several times to boost demand. Sales fell last quarter, partly due to planned shutdowns for factory upgrades.
Tesla boss Elon Musk said he wants to get a better idea of where the economy is headed before going all-in on building a new factory in Mexico. “If interest rates stay high (…) it will be much harder for people to buy a car. They just can’t afford them,” he said on a conference call with analysts after the results were released.
Elon Musk also moderated expectations for the new Cybertruck pick-up truck: “It’s a great product, but financially, its benefits will be felt in a year to 18 months.” At the same time, he also admitted that the production of the Cybertruck, an all-new model with innovative production techniques, has brought many complications: “We dug our own grave with the Cybertruck.” So that explains the long wait, but the first pieces of the Cybertruck electric pickup truck should arrive to customers this quarter.
