Despite pandemic-related production outages in China and ongoing supply chain issues, Tesla nearly doubled second-quarter earnings. Thanks to strong price increases, the electric car manufacturer earned a bottom line of 2.3 billion dollars, 98 percent more than a year ago. This was announced by the group of star entrepreneur Elon Musk on Wednesday after the US stock market closed. Tesla clearly exceeded market expectations, the stock initially rose significantly after the trading session. In the previous quarter, however, the result was still at a much higher $3.3 billion.
Tesla increased sales by 42 percent year-on-year to $16.9 billion. Despite the persistent difficulties caused by material shortages and production disruptions, the group confirmed its ambitious goal of delivering around 50 percent more cars this year than in 2021. Tesla only brought 254,695 vehicles to its customers in the second quarter - the first decline compared to the previous quarter in around two years. But the company is assuming a "record-breaking" second half of the year.
In Tesla's large US car plant in Fremont and in Shanghai - where there were recently outages due to China's corona lockdowns - the highest monthly production rates to date have recently been recorded, explained Tesla. The European factory in Grünheide near Berlin is also slowly getting going - 1000 Model Ys rolled off the assembly line here in a week, which Tesla described as an "important milestone". In May, Musk complained about problems with ramping up production in Grünheide and in the new US plant in Austin and described the locations in an interview as "gigantic money incinerators".
Tesla also delivered surprising news about its Bitcoin investment: According to the annual report, the company had sold around 75 percent of it by the end of the quarter, which increased the cash balance on the balance sheet by $936 million in the past quarter. In 2021, Tesla had invested around 1.5 billion dollars in the oldest and best-known digital currency, which caused a stir at the time. A part was sold again a short time later. Like the entire market for crypto assets, the Bitcoin price collapsed massively in the past quarter.
Musk described the Bitcoin sale in a conference call with analysts and investors as a reaction to the difficult situation in Shanghai: "It was important for us to maximize our cash position given the uncertainty caused by the Covid lockdowns in China," he said. The sale took place because Tesla's management was unsure how long the situation there would last. In April, a mandatory notification to the US Securities and Exchange Commission stated that Tesla believed in the long-term potential of digital assets - both as an investment and as a liquid alternative to cash.
Tesla's lucrative trade in pollution rights, which other automakers need to improve their carbon footprint, no longer played quite as big a role. In the first quarter, the e-car pioneer had turned over 679 million dollars, in the last quarter it was only 344 million. Although Tesla raised prices several times this year, its auto sales margin fell to 27.9 percent. In the previous quarter it was still 32.9 percent and a year ago it was 28.4 percent.
