Tesla shatters record with nearly a million delivered cars in 2021

Well above analysts' expectations.
 By 
Stan Schroeder
 on 
Tesla Model 3
Tesla sold a lot of Model 3 and Model Y cars last year. Credit: Smith Collection/Gado / Contributor

Tesla has had a very good year.

On Sunday, the electric car maker released its vehicle production and deliveries report for the fourth quarter of 2021. The company says it produced more than 305,000 vehicles and delivered 308,000 vehicles in Q4, well above the estimates of most analysts.

In 2021, Tesla delivered "over 936,000" vehicles, the company said. This is a new record for Tesla, and nearly double the result from 2020, when the company delivered a total of 499,500 cars.

The bulk of these numbers came from Tesla Model 3 and Model Y sales, which accounted for 911,208 deliveries in 2021, as opposed to just 24,964 deliveries of Model S and Model X cars.

Like virtually all other automakers, Tesla struggled with the global chip shortage which hampered production and pushed deliveries of Model S and Model X many months into the future. But the company was able to capitalize from the added production capacity of its new Giga Shanghai factory in China. Tesla's production rate is likely to further increase next year thanks to the company's new factories in Berlin, Germany and Austin, Texas.

Tesla's results are even more impressive given that the 2021 was the first year the company got some real competition from other carmakers, including Ford's electric Mustang Mach-E and Chevrolet's redesigned Bolt.

Tesla is yet to announce its earnings report for the final quarter of 2021.

Topics Tesla

Stan Schroeder
Stan Schroeder
Senior Editor

Stan is a Senior Editor at Mashable, where he has worked since 2007. He's got more battery-powered gadgets and band t-shirts than you. He writes about the next groundbreaking thing. Typically, this is a phone, a coin, or a car. His ultimate goal is to know something about everything.

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