Tesla no longer mentions the goal of building 20 million electric cars per year in the current environmental report. Now the document published on Thursday only says that they want to displace fossil fuels by selling as many Tesla products as possible. The previous two reports stated that Tesla would have to build many more factories by the end of the decade in order to ultimately produce 20 million vehicles annually.
The car manufacturer did not initially respond to the question of whether the goal had been officially abandoned. Last year, Tesla increased deliveries by almost 38 percent to a good 1.8 million vehicles. However, there is currently no forecast for 2024. Tesla only promised a slower growth rate. Previously had company boss Elon Musk (52) talked about increasing deliveries by 50 percent annually.
After a decline in sales at the beginning of the year, Musk announced in April that he would bring cheaper models onto the market faster than planned. They are now scheduled to go into production ahead of the originally targeted date in the second half of 2025. However, the production processes are not to be renewed as radically as originally announced. Musk also wants to unveil a robotaxi at the beginning of August.
The electric car pioneer has recently come under pressure from cheaper competition China as well as buyers’ interest in hybrid models in the domestic market USA. Tesla delivered around 387,000 vehicles in the first quarter, significantly fewer than expected. It was 8.5 percent less than in the same period last year – and a slump of 20 percent compared to the last quarter of 2023. When presenting the quarterly figures, Tesla referred, among other things, to the general decline in demand for electric cars, but also to the production losses at the Grünheide plant near Berlin after an attack on the power supply was carried out there.
Tesla recently tried to boost sales with massive discounts. Musk also recently announced the largest layoff program in Tesla history: around 14,000 jobs are to be cut, 400 of them also in Grünheide.
Musk’s U-turn on US tariffs on Chinese electric cars
On the question of US import tariffs on Chinese electric cars, the Tesla boss has now made a U-turn. “Neither Tesla nor I asked for these tariffs, in fact I was surprised when they were announced,” Musk said via video conference Thursday at the Viva Technology panel in Paris. “Things that hinder the free exchange of goods or distort the market are not good,” he added.
Last week, US President Joe Biden (81) quadrupled the tariffs on Chinese electric cars. He justified this with unfair trade practices by China that threatened the US economy. Other goods from China are also affected by the new tariffs. According to the US government, the measures affect goods worth $18 billion.
“Tesla is doing quite well in the Chinese market without tariffs and without support,” Musk said. “I am in favor of not raising tariffs.” However, in January he warned that without trade barriers, Chinese car manufacturers would “demolish” their competitors.