Exactly 509,737 vehicles were produced last year, an increase of 40% from 2019.
The electric car manufacturer Tesla announced this Saturday that it produced more than 500,000 vehicles during 2020, a figure that represents a new milestone for the company despite the pandemic, and of which its founder, Elon Musk, said he was “very proud.”
The figures were revealed in a statement published by Tesla, in which they detail that exactly 509,737 vehicles were produced during the past year, representing an increase of 40% from 2019, while 499,550 of them have been sold in the last 12 months, 36% more.
Of them, 180,570 have been delivered in the last quarter of 2020, the text points out, which represents a new record for the company and exceeds Wall Street expectations, which by last Thursday expected that some 174,000 cars would have been sold in that period.
“I am very proud of the Tesla team for exceeding this important milestone!” Musk said on Twitter, saying that at the beginning of the company’s existence, he thought that, being optimistic, he had only a 10% chance of survival.
So proud of the Tesla team for achieving this major milestone! At the start of Tesla, I thought we had (optimistically) a 10% chance of surviving at all. https://t.co/xCqTL5TGlE
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 2, 2021
Specifically, in the last quarter of 2020 Tesla has delivered 161,650 units of the Model 3 and Model Y and has produced 163,660 of them, while it has delivered 18,920 of the Model S and Model X and produced 16,097 of them.
For the full year, they have delivered 442,511 of the Model 3 and Model Y and produced 454,932 of them, while it has sold 57,039 of the Model S and Model X and produced 54,805.
Throughout 2020, Tesla has been able to increase its vehicle production and delivery thanks to its new Shanghai plant, while also using new battery cell suppliers to make higher voltage batteries.
Musk said this year that he wants Tesla sales to rise from 500,000 to 20 million annually in the next decade.