Start your engines: Tesla shares race higher on record deliveries

Tesla shares are charging higher on the first trading day of 2022 thanks to a wave of investor enthusiasm on the back of record fourth-quarter deliveries.

Shares of the electric vehicle (EV) maker jumped more than 8 percent at the open of trading in New York on Monday after reporting on Sunday that it delivered more than 308,000 vehicles in the final three months of 2021. The global figure, which topped analysts’ estimates, marked Tesla’s best quarterly delivery rate to date and brought its full-year deliveries to more than 936,000 vehicles.

CEO Elon Musk tweeted the results on Sunday along with the words: Great work by Tesla team worldwide!

Great work by Tesla team worldwide! https://t.co/lsDTCJtMrp

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 2, 2022

The blowout quarter was even more impressive given worldwide shortages of vital components such as semiconductors – a supply crunch Tesla navigated in part by making design changes including reprogramming its software to use chips that are more readily available.

In October, Tesla’s market capitalisation crossed the $1 trillion mark for the first time. Shares continued to climb in early November but hit bumpy terrain in the waning days of 2021 as Musk sold 10 percent of his stake in the EV maker.

Tesla, which recently relocated its headquarters to the state of Texas, is set to start producing Teslas at its new factory in Austin, Texas this year.  A separate factory in Brandenburg, Germany is also expected to start production this year.

“We expect a gradual ramp of Berlin and Austin and anticipate those ramps will lead to a deceleration of exports from Shanghai, many of which have been bound for Europe in 2021,” said Cowen analyst Jeffrey Osborne.

Last week, Tesla announced it is recalling 475,000 vehicles in the United States due to technical problems.