Despite making far fewer cars than the major car groups, Tesla‘s business model has led it to skyrocket its margin on every vehicle sold. A strategy that until now was seen from a distance by traditional brands. But last quarter, Tesla managed to overtake Toyota in net profit. A very symbolic aspect that confirms the good progress of a brand that for many always faced bankruptcy in a few months.
We already knew the data on Tesla deliveries, which in the third quarter of this 2022 closed with a total of 365,923 car units produced, and 343,830 delivered. A notable increase compared to the immediate previous quarter (258,580 vehicles manufactured and 254,695 delivered) highlights not only the high demand for its range but also its growing production capacity.
Now, in addition to a growth of 42.4% compared to the previous year, at a time when most manufacturers see their sales fall sharply, Tesla adds record revenues that have reached $3.290 billion. A figure that represents a growth of 103% compared to the third quarter of last year, which marks a line even more accentuated than the production of vehicles.
But without a doubt, the most striking comparison is the one that supposes that Tesla, with eight times less production, has surpassed in net profit a Toyota has reported a net profit of $3.150 billion in the same period.
It should be noted that this situation may be punctual. Very striking and significant, but according to the Nikkei newspaper, Toyota’s revenue drop in the quarter is due to extraordinary issues such as high energy costs, and higher component costs, something that has reduced profits by about $3 billion this exercise. A fall slightly offset by the weakness of the yen has allowed export costs to be reduced.
But as we say, the figure, although symbolic, is very important. We can also compare it with the numbers of other large groups. For example, Tesla has not been far from Volkswagen, which in the third quarter has indicated that it has had a net income of $4.3 billion dollars after delivering 2.2 million units and being very close to the $3.59 billion dollars of BMW.
A milestone achieved by Tesla reminds us of when in 2010, Toyota took over 3% of Tesla for just 50 million dollars. A bargain gave the evolution of the value of the Palo Alto manufacturer that has reported very significant capital gains for Toyota.
A 3% that today would go from 50 million to $18 billion dollars. More than half of the market capitalization of Toyota has a current value of 32.44 billion.
