Tesla delivered 112,000 vehicles in Q4 2019, which meant a total of 367,500 vehicles were delivered in 2019. That meant that 2019 was a record-setting year again for vehicle sales. It was also a major year for Tesla in other way — from battery technology advancements, to the Cybertruck, to Gigafactory 3, to solar innovation (the new Solarglass Roof), to vehicle deliveries.
Many headlines questioned Tesla back in Q3, claiming that it fell short of the 100,000 delivery mark, while overlooking the fact that it still broke its own record with a stunning 97,000 deliveries. This time, many critics seem too silent. Tesla has continued to set records and do what Wall Street said it wasn’t going to do. Overall, Q4 2019 was a sweet finish to an excellent year for Tesla.
“We want to thank our customers, employees, suppliers, shareholders, and supporters who made another record-breaking year possible.” —Tesla
Tesla has also already produced just under 1,000 vehicles in Shanghai and begun deliveries there, and has proven that the production run-rate capability is larger than 3,000 units per week. This doesn’t include battery pack production, because that started towards the end of December. Tesla also gives us its definition of a delivery: “we only count a car as delivered if it is transferred to the customer and all paperwork is correct” This means that the final numbers could be more than what Tesla originally announced.
These deliveries are just a part of Tesla’s financial performance and Tesla mentions that they shouldn’t be seen as an indicator of quarterly financial results. Those depend on more than just delivery numbers. Other factors are the cost of sales, foreign exchange movement, and the mix of directly leased vehicles. Not to mention the preorders of Tesla’s new Cybertruck. Tesla has an incredible market value, basically tying the combined market cap of Ford and GM this week.
In 2019, Tesla was listed among the Top 10 Most Valuable Car Brands worldwide, valued at $9.3 billion. This happened thanks to the Model 3 being a top seller.
Related: Tesla Sales Grew 47× In 7 Years
Elon Musk dancing is your dad at a wedding pic.twitter.com/esgNjqFI3A
— Sebastian Salek (@sebastiansalek) January 7, 2020
When Elon Musk went to China to launch the Model Y, he danced on stage. His dancing is a reflection on the state of Tesla’s entire wellbeing as a company, and I believe supporters should celebrate with him. Tesla has overcome so much in the past 10 years and has gone from being something barely talked about to a household name. I’ve had several conversations with people here in Baton Rouge, and when I mention Tesla or Elon Musk, they don’t know them. But when I say, “the electric car,” they get excited and say, “Yeah, that Tesla!” or something similar.
Average consumers may not understand Tesla or fully research it, but they get what they know from the media — Facebook, Twitter, and their circles of friends and families. This shows that Tesla may not need to do advertising when it comes to branding, but when the facts are an issue, there do need to be some types of ways people can understand Tesla without having to delve into the stock world. I’ve had an Uber driver tell me that the Cyberturck really didn’t have bulletproof glass because a steel ball hit it and cracked it. He didn’t realize what the definition of bulletproof glass was, and then insisted that it was regular glass. I didn’t argue with him because he had his mind made up. I did encourage him to research it, however, and he did say he liked the stainless steel exoskeleton.
When it comes to Tesla, everyone talks about it, and this is a great thing for the company. It’s now the dawn of a new decade and perhaps by the end of this year we will notice many more Teslas on the roads as people realize what a valuable vehicle it is — not because of the brand or the fun — but because in the long run, they save thousands by not having to pump gas.