Tesla has beaten analysts’ forecasts with 422 875 cars delivered in the first quarter of 2023. However, with this achievement, the EV maker also slashes its previous record of 405 000 vehicles, achieved during the fourth quarter of 2022. The price cuts, which started in China and then spread globally, are the main contributor to the rise.

Tesla announced the results on Sunday. It also broke down the numbers per model. In Q1 of 2023, the brand delivered 10 695 units of Model S and Model X, while the compact Model 3 and its SUV version Model Y accounted for 412 180 units. However, production numbers might reveal an inventory pain point, as Tesla assembled 440 000 units during the first three months of this year.

In transit

Especially for its luxury models, the gap is vast, as no less than 19 437 units were made, almost double the number delivered. The official statement reads that these are vehicles in transit, awaiting delivery in the European, Middle Eastern, and Asia-Pacific regions.

For the smaller models, the difference is 9 191 units. Tesla, famous for wave-deliveries dependent on their Ro-Ro ships rolling in the harbor hubs, is trying to move away from these spikes, aiming for a more evenly spread of getting cars to customers.

The recently operational factories in German Grünheide and Austin, Texas, play a role in this. These two sites were ramped up simultaneously to take over some of the export from Shanghai. With an assembly of 5 000 cars per week, the European unit is now on schedule.

Output of 2 million

That number represents a symbolic mark for the company in scaling up mass production and is an important stepping stone toward an annual output of 2 million units. Last year, Tesla produced 1,2 million vehicles.

With 4 000 units per week, Austin is catching up on Grünheide. The milestone was achieved just two days ago. The difficulty for the American site is that they need to incorporate the newer 4680 cells and cope with a new ‘structural battery pack’, while the German Model Y’s are all equipped with the well-known and tested 2170 cells.

Battery factory with CATL

According to Bloomberg, Tesla considers to team up with Chinese battery maker CATL to build a plant for LFP batteries in the US under the Biden Inflation Reduction Act. Under that law, packs with a certain amount of China-based materials don’t qualify for a tax reduction. Local production partly undercuts that condition.

CATL is looking for several factories in the US, but geopolitical tensions are slowing down the decision-making. The collaboration with Tesla would join an earlier factory deal concluded with Ford (which triggered some nervosity over a Chinese firm potentially receiving American taxpayer money). Next to that, CATL also wants to build one plant by itself.