Tesla has been raising prices – but that hasn’t seemed to dent demand for its electric cars.
Despite the firm facing higher costs, profits at the electric car company founded by Elon Musk soared to $3.3 billion in the first three months of the year, as customers proved willing to pay more.
The firm’s deliveries were up 68% – and would have been higher if not for supply chain shortages, the firm said.
Its Shanghai factory was recently forced shut due to COVID restrictions.
As the plant reopens this month, staff will be required to sleep at the factory in an effort to avoid further lockdowns, Bloomberg has reported.
“Although limited production has recently restarted, we continue to monitor the situation closely,” Tesla said.
Tesla has been pushing to expand, opening new factories in Texas and Germany in recent weeks.
The firm delivered more than 310,000 cars in the first three months of the year and in a conference call, Musk predicted the company would produce 60% more cars during the year compared to 2021.
Tesla doesn’t advertise its products, but attracts frequent headlines, often related to controversial comments made by Musk. But the firm said that it had also seen spikes in orders following increased marketing from rival electric car makers.
Musk said Tesla expects to mass produce a robotaxi with no steering wheel or pedals by 2024.
Some investors worry Musk may be distracted from his focus on the electric carmaker as it expands. Known for his sometimes erratic musings on Twitter, Musk recently made an unsolicited offer to buy the social media platform for $43 billion.
The rise in Tesla’s stock market value in recent years has made Musk the world’s richest man, with an estimated net worth of more than $260 billion.
That is nearly $100 billion more than his closest rival, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
