Tesla reported record deliveries of its electric cars in the last three months of 2020, hitting the half-million-euro target for the year set by its CEO, Elon Musk, in no time.
The California-based manufacturer’s annual sales rose 36% after a last quarter that exceeded analyst expectations, with a total of 499,550 cars in 2020.
Tesla delivered 180,570 electric vehicles between October and December, just below the overall target set by Musk at the start of the year, before the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Covid-19 forced the closure of its Fremont US assembly plant in the spring, but Musk urged workers to increase production to meet the target, last week offering incentives including free ‘self-driving’ options worth $ 10,000 (£ 7,300) on Tesla cars with paperwork and delivery completed by the last days of December.
Despite apparently missing the mark, Tesla said it had “produced and delivered half a million vehicles in accordance with our most recent guidelines,” and Musk called it a “significant milestone.”
He tweeted, “So proud of the Tesla team to achieve this important milestone! At the start of Tesla, we thought we had (optimistically) a 10% chance of surviving at all. “
Elon Musk
(@Elon Musk)So proud of the Tesla team for reaching this important milestone! At the start of Tesla, I thought we (optimistically) had a 10% chance of surviving at all. https://t.co/xCqTL5TGlE
The manufacturer made more than 509,000 cars in 2020. Production of the Model Y SUV has also begun at the Chinese factory in Shanghai, and deliveries are expected to begin shortly, Tesla said.
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Tesla’s stock price, which rose eightfold in 2020, ended the year at more than $ 705, valuing the company at $ 669 billion – 20% of which is owned by Musk himself, the second richest man in the world. It overtook Toyota as the world’s most valuable automaker earlier this year, and last month joined the prestigious Wall Street S&P index, immediately making it the sixth most valuable publicly traded company.