Tesla released its Q1 2022 earnings yesterday, and, yet again, it exceeded Wall Street analysts' expectations in a big way. Somewhat surprisingly, CEO Elon Musk was on the conference call. He talked about why Tesla is raising prices, and he reiterated the crazy demand for its cars. Perhaps more interesting, Tesla confirmed that it saw an obvious spike in new orders after the Super Bowl.
Tesla doesn't advertise. It's struggling to fill the orders it already has, so working hard to get more would just mean people would have to wait even longer. Musk made it clear that while raising prices may work to slow demand, Tesla is actually doing it because it's projecting the cost of materials for the cars closer to the time of their delivery, which could be over a year away.
It's telling to think that just a few years ago, it seemed most legacy automakers were working to "anti-sell" their EVs. Few advertised their electric cars, they didn't stock them in large numbers, and at times, some automotive executives even pushed back against EVs and told people not to buy them. Now it seems Tesla wants to slow the demand for its cars, but those same automakers are helping the US electric automaker sell more.
No matter what Tesla does to curb demand, the orders keep piling on. This year's Super Bowl was packed with electric car ads from various automakers. Now that EVs are beginning to come into the mainstream, people are taking notice. Seeing major automakers supporting and promoting electric cars, not to mention their outstanding performance, gets people talking and searching the internet.
Apparently, it also moves people to order a Tesla. The company provided this compelling graphic on page 8 of its official shareholder deck:
You can check out the whole package by following the link below:
Electrek notes that Tesla's order rate soared once again not long after gas prices started to rise in March due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This all supports Musk's repeated comment, “We are obviously not demand limited, we are production limited." Will Tesla ever be able to catch up?
