Tesla released its sales figures recently where the automotive giant disclosed that the company sold almost half a million cars in 2020. Tesla motors barely missed its half a million target for the year. 

According to the official statement made by the electric-vehicle pioneer Tesla Motors, the company delivered 1,80,570 cars to its customers and produced 1,79,756 cars in the last quarter of 2020. 

Tesla Motors’ previous record was delivering 1,39,300 vehicles in the third quarter of the year 2020. For the full year, the company delivered 4,99,550 cars which is just shy of its target of delivering half a million cars. The company produced 5,09,737 units according to the delivery reports. 

Here’s the complete graphic of Tesla’s deliveries and production for the year 2020

In its statement, Tesla said that they produced and delivered half a million vehicles which were in line with their most recent guidance. Additionally, the company also said that the Model Y’s production has already begun in Shanghai, and deliveries are expected to begin soon.

But tesla also presented how the deliveries could be viewed as slightly conservative and there might be more deliveries than the reported ones. Here’s what the official statement said:

“Our net income and cash flow results will be announced along with the rest of our financial performance when we announce Q4 earnings. Our delivery count should be viewed as slightly conservative, as we only count a car as delivered if it is transferred to the customer and all paperwork is correct. Final numbers could vary by up to 0.5% or more.”

Tesla’s founder and CEO Elon Musk also celebrated this feat by going on the micro-blogging platform Twitter and applauding the Tesla team for a job done well.

The Shiksha Take: A giant victory for tesla

Let’s zoom in and look at Tesla’s numbers on a microscopic scale. On its production side, Tesla achieved a 24% quarter-to-quarter increase and a 71% increase year-over-year. Whereas on the delivery side, it was a 30% quarter-to-quarter increase with a 61% for year-over-year. For a product as complex and as new as an electric vehicle, that’s simply incredible growth.

Another staggering figure to look at is the overall year 2020 versus 2019. Tesla’s delivery increased by 36% in 2020. In a year that saw a global pandemic, major lockdowns in countries, and markets crashing, there aren’t many automakers who can say the same about their performance.

Since the milestone of delivering half a million units in a year is completely out of the way, it would now make sense for Tesla to focus on stable delivery flow and quality of their vehicles.