Automotive
Charted: Tesla’s Unrivaled Profit Margins
Chart: Tesla’s Unrivaled Profit Margins
In January this year, Tesla made the surprising announcement that it would be cutting prices on its vehicles by as much as 20%.
While price cuts are not new in the automotive world, they are for Tesla. The company, which historically has been unable to keep up with demand, has seen its order backlog shrink from 476,000 units in July 2022, to 74,000 in December 2022.
This has been attributed to Tesla’s robust production growth, which saw 2022 production increase 41% over 2021 (from 930,422 to 1,313,851 units).
With the days of “endless” demand seemingly over, Tesla is going on the offensive by reducing its prices—a move that puts pressure on competitors, but has also angered existing owners.
Cranking up the Heat
Tesla’s price cuts are an attempt to protect its market share, but they’re not exactly the desperation move some media outlets have claimed them to be.
Recent data compiled by Reuters shows that Tesla’s margins are significantly higher than those of its rivals, both in terms of gross and net profit. Our graphic only illustrates the net figures, but gross profits are also included in the table below.
Company | Gross profit per car | Net profit per car |
---|---|---|
🇺🇸 Tesla | $15,653 | $9,574 |
🇺🇸 GM | $3,818 | $2,150 |
🇨🇳 BYD | $5,456 | $1,550 |
🇯🇵 Toyota | $3,925 | $1,197 |
🇩🇪 VW | $6,034 | $973 |
🇰🇷 Hyundai | $5,362 | $927 |
🇺🇸 Ford | $3,115 | -$762 |
🇨🇳 Xpeng | $4,565 | -$11,735 |
🇨🇳 Nio | $8,036 | -$19,141 |
Data from Q3 2022
Price cutting has its drawbacks, but one could argue that the benefits for Tesla are worth it based on this data—especially in a critical market like China.
Tesla has taken the nuclear option to bully the weaker, thin margin players off the table.
– Bill Russo, Automobility
In the case of Chinese EV startups Xpeng and Nio, net profits are non-existent, meaning it’s unlikely they’ll be able to match Tesla’s reductions in price. Both firms have reported year-on-year sales declines in January.
As for Tesla, Chinese media outlets have claimed that the firm received 30,000 orders within three days of its price cut announcement. Note that this hasn’t been officially confirmed by anyone within the company.
Tit for Tat
Ford made headlines recently for announcing its own price cuts on the Mustang Mach-E electric SUV. The model is a direct competitor to Tesla’s best-selling Model Y.
Chevrolet and Hyundai have also adjusted some of their EV prices in recent months, as listed in the following table.
Model | Old Price | New Price | Discount |
---|---|---|---|
Tesla Model Y Long Range | $65,990 | $53,490 | 18.9% |
Chevrolet Bolt EUV 2023 | $33,500 | $27,200 | 18.8% |
Tesla Model Y Performance | $69,990 | $56,990 | 18.6% |
Chevrolet Bolt 2023 | $31,600 | $26,500 | 16.1% |
Tesla Model 3 Performance | $62,990 | $53,990 | 14.3% |
Hyundai Kona Electric 2022 | $37,390 | $34,000 | 9.1% |
Ford Mustang Mach-E GT Extended Range | $69,900 | $64,000 | 8.4% |
Tesla Model 3 Long Range | $46,990 | $43,990 | 6.4% |
Ford Mustang Mach-E Premium AWD | $57,675 | $53,995 | 6.4% |
Ford Mustang Mach-E RWD Standard Range | $46,900 | $46,000 | 1.9% |
Source: Observer (Feb 2023)
Volkswagen is a noteworthy player missing from this table. The company has been gaining ground on Tesla, especially in the European market.
We have a clear pricing strategy and are focusing on reliability. We trust in the strength of our products and brands.
– Oliver Blume, CEO, VW Group
This decision could hamper Volkswagen’s goal of becoming a dominant player in EVs, especially if more automakers join Tesla in cutting prices. For now, Tesla still holds a strong grip on the US market.
Thanks, Elon
Recent Tesla buyers became outraged when the company announced it would be slashing prices on its cars. In China, buyers even staged protests at Tesla stores and delivery centers.
Recent buyers not only missed out on a better price, but their cars have effectively depreciated by the amount of the cut. This is a bitter turn of events, given Musk’s 2019 claims that a Tesla would be an appreciating asset.
I think the most profound thing is that if you buy a Tesla today, I believe you are buying an appreciating asset – not a depreciating asset.
– Elon Musk, CEO, Tesla
These comments were made in reference to Tesla’s full self-driving (FSD) capabilities, which Elon claimed would enable owners to turn their cars into robotaxis.
Energy
Global EV Production: BYD Surpasses Tesla
This graphic explores the latest EV production data for 2022, which shows BYD taking a massive step forward to surpass Tesla.

Global EV Production: BYD Surpasses Tesla
This was originally posted on Elements. Sign up to the free mailing list to get beautiful visualizations on natural resource megatrends in your email every week.
2022 was another historic year for EVs, with annual production surpassing 10 million cars for the first time ever. This represents a sizeable bump up from 2021’s figure of 6.7 million.
In this infographic, we’ve used data from EV Volumes to visualize the top 15 brands by output. The color of each brand’s bubble represents their growth from 2021, with the darker shades depicting a larger percentage increase.
Data Overview and Key Takeaways
The raw data we used to create this infographic is listed below. Volume figures for 2021 were included for convenience.
Rank | Company | 2022 | 2021 | Growth from 2021 |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 🇨🇳 BYD | 1,858,364 | 598,019 | 211% |
2 | 🇺🇸 Tesla | 1,314,319 | 936,247 | 40% |
3 | 🇩🇪 VW Group | 839,207 | 763,851 | 10% |
4 | 🇺🇸 GM (incl. Wuling Motors) | 584,602 | 516,631 | 13% |
5 | 🇺🇸 🇮🇹 🇫🇷 Stellantis | 512,276 | 381,843 | 34% |
6 | 🇰🇷 Hyundai Motors (incl. Kia) | 497,816 | 348,660 | 43% |
7 | 🇩🇪 BMW Group | 433,164 | 329,182 | 32% |
8 | 🇨🇳 Geely Auto Group | 351,356 | 99,980 | 251% |
9 | 🇩🇪 Mercedes-Benz Group | 337,364 | 281,929 | 20% |
10 | 🇫🇷 🇯🇵 Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance | 335,964 | 289,473 | 16% |
11 | 🇨🇳 GAC Group | 287,977 | 125,384 | 130% |
12 | 🇨🇳 SAIC Motor Corp. | 256,341 | 237,043 | 8% |
13 | 🇸🇪 Volvo Cars | 253,266 | 220,576 | 15% |
14 | 🇨🇳 Chery Auto Co. | 253,141 | 107,482 | 136% |
15 | 🇨🇳 Changan Auto Co. | 245,555 | 105,072 | 134% |
16 | 🌎 Other (41 companies) | 1,927,211 | 1,326,262 | 45% |
Includes BEVs and PHEVs
BYD Auto
BYD Auto has leaped past Tesla to become the new EV king, boosting its output by a massive 211% in 2022. Given this trajectory, the company will likely become the world’s first automaker to produce over 2 million EVs in a single year.
BYD has a limited presence in non-domestic markets, but this could change rather quickly. The company is planning a major push into Europe, where it expects to build factories in order to avoid EU tariffs on Chinese car imports.
The company is also building a factory in Thailand, to produce right-hand drive models for markets like Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.
Tesla
Tesla increased its output by a respectable 40% in 2022, staying ahead of Western brands like Volkswagen (+10%) and GM (+13%), but falling behind its Chinese rivals such as Geely (+251%).
Whether these Chinese brands can maintain their triple digit growth figures is uncertain, but one thing is clear: Tesla is facing more competition than ever before.
The company is targeting annual production of 20 million cars by 2030, meaning it will need to keep yearly growth rates in the high double digits for the rest of the decade. To support this initiative, Tesla is planning a multi-billion dollar factory in Mexico capable of producing 1 million cars a year.
Hyundai
Hyundai Motor Company, which also owns Kia, posted a similar growth rate to Tesla. The South Korean automaker was a relatively early player in the EV space, revealing the first Hyundai Ioniq in 2016.
In late 2022, several countries including South Korea expressed their disapproval of the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, which withdrew tax credits on EVs not produced within the United States.
Hyundai is currently building a $5.5 billion EV factory in the state of Georgia, but this facility will not become operational until 2025. In the meantime, South Korea has revised its own EV subsidy program to favor domestic brands.
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