The American manufacturer Tesla, a specialist in electric means of transport, created a surprise by announcing on Wednesday a jump in its profits in the third quarter, highlighting a cost price per vehicle at a historic low.
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“Despite continued macroeconomic challenges and other obstacles hampering investments in electric vehicles, we remain focused on expanding our catalog of electric vehicles and equipment,” noted Tesla in a press release.
Net profit thus came to $2.18 billion (+17% over one year) and, reported per share and on a comparable basis – a benchmark for the markets – it stood at 72 cents (+9%), a specified the company of billionaire Elon Musk, also owner of the social network X and the space company SpaceX.
The consensus of FactSet analysts was for 2.01 billion and 60 cents respectively.
The group reported a cost per vehicle of approximately $35,100.
“To keep the global transition to renewable energy accelerating, we must make electric vehicles more affordable for everyone,” the manufacturer stressed.
It confirmed that it is developing new models, including better ones, with a start of production maintained in the first half of 2025.
And its electric heavy-duty truck, Semi, remains “on track” to launch production by the end of 2025.
“We have crazy demand,” rejoiced Elon Musk during the audio conference, noting that a transport company that did not adopt it would be “losing”, because it is much more economical than a diesel engine. combustion.
The low-cost car — around $25,000 to $30,000 — is eagerly awaited by the markets.
The operating margin reached 10.8%, rising above the 10% threshold as some analysts hoped.
After the audio conference, Tesla shares jumped nearly 12% in electronic trading after the New York Stock Exchange closed. The very volatile stock closed down 1.98% on Wednesday.
Promotions
On the other hand, the turnover did not reach analysts’ predictions (25.47 billion) by placing itself at 25.18 billion dollars, but it nevertheless increased by 8%.
The group justified this by a lower average selling price per vehicle (excluding currency effects), due to promotions and “attractive” financing options.
“We achieved good results in the third quarter with growth in vehicle deliveries from one quarter to the next and over one year, giving a record volume” over the period, noted the group.
He believes he is currently between two waves of growth: the first was the spread of Model 3 and Model Y cars around the world, the second “will be initiated by advances in autonomy and the introduction of new products”.
Elon Musk unveiled the highly anticipated robotaxi on October 10, a driverless electric taxi called Cybercab, which left experts and markets wanting more due to the absence of details on its technical characteristics.
Its production should begin “before 2027”, specified the billionaire, while saying that he had often been optimistic in terms of timetables.
During the audio conference, the billionaire said he expected to obtain authorization in 2025 to operate autonomous vehicles without supervision in California and Texas.
“We will have driverless Teslas doing paid rides next year,” he assured.
He also estimated that, thanks to the marketing of a more affordable car, vehicle sales should increase “by 20% to 30%” in 2025 “barring external negative factors”.
According to him, a reduction in interest rates would be a particularly “favorable” element, because it “has a massive effect on demand for automobiles”, with customers paying attention to monthly payments.
Tesla announced at the beginning of October global deliveries – the group does not communicate its sales by geographic region – in line with expectations in the third quarter with 462,890 vehicles delivered to their owners.
Over the same period, it manufactured 469,796 vehicles.
“Despite current macroeconomic conditions, we expect slight growth in deliveries in 2024,” Tesla said on Wednesday.
The manufacturer, which is targeting 1.8 million vehicles sold over the year, welcomed the production on Tuesday of its seven millionth vehicle since its creation.
