Amid ongoing port restrictions and rising shipping costs, Tesla's CEO Elon Musk urged employees on Friday, in an email, to seek ways to reduce the cost of delivering electric vehicles to customers instead of rushing orders at the last minute to meet end-of-quarter sales goals. This comes after Tesla has struggled to deliver cars to customers in the U.S. in line with agreed-upon delivery schedules, with some Tesla customers experiencing delivery delays of months, prompting them to rent cars until theirs arrive.
Tesla is not alone in this situation; Rivian Automotive has also notified customers who booked the R1S, an SUV, about delivery delays. However, Tesla's sales have grown this year. The company reported delivering about 627,350 vehicles by the end of the third quarter, compared to around 500,000 vehicles for the entire year of 2020. Since the beginning of 2021, the company has not provided a clear target for vehicle deliveries for that year.
In turn, John Hong Li, CEO of research firm JL Warren Capital, wrote in a note to investors last week that he expects Tesla's sales to continue rising, at least in China this quarter. He pointed out that "high fuel prices benefit all new brands of new energy vehicles." Approximately 1.3 million electric vehicles were sold in China in 2020, according to Canalys research. The firm predicted that the number would rise to 1.9 million electric vehicle sales in China by the end of this year. China remains the largest market for new cars globally, with strong government support for the transition to electric vehicles.
