Why is Elon Musk happy with Tesla numbers?

Why is Elon Musk happy with Tesla numbers?

Exceeds for the first time the 100,000 vehicles sold

    Tesla's financial director, Deepak Ahuja, may be pulling his hair after balancing and presenting the 2017 accounts of the company chaired by Elon Musk. The numbers scare investors and shareholders , although Wall Street did not react badly in the aftermarket after presenting results on Wednesday night in Spain.

The numbers are scary. Tesla closed last year with a net loss of 2.24 billion dollars , 189.7% more than in 2016. That is why it is so surprising that Musk says: "It's a phenomenal period." A year in red and where his Model 3 suffers new delays in its production, although Musk says that "progress is being made every day". Why is it a phenomenal year?

    The past 12 months were not bad for the company in Palo Alto (California) despite the numbers because although there have been delays in production, the first batteries of the Model 3 have already been on the street and the S and X models are still accumulating record numbers and their marketing campaigns continue to pay off.

It is the first year in which Elon Musk's company exceeds 100,000 sales. Specifically delivered 103,181 vehicles : 101,417 units of Model S and Model X and 1,764 units of Model 3. Although, this latest model continues to give headaches, as in the last quarter was far from the more than 4,000 units that They figured in expectations.

"We are focused on achieving a 25% gross margin for Model 3, after our production stabilizes at 5,000 cars per week," the company explained in its forecasts for 2018.

The joys of sales
That, yes the sales of the vehicles continue giving joys. The increase in the total revenues of the electric vehicle firm could not stop the decline in its net profit either. Among the divisions of sales and leasing of automobiles, energy and services and others, Tesla entered 11,758 million dollars (9,610 million euros), which translates into an increase of 67.9% over the previous year.

With the investments made to increase the production of vehicles and the development of new models, such as the Semi electric truck , the losses from Tesla operations in 2017 amounted to 1,632 million dollars, 144.6% more than in 2016.

The increase in losses occurred despite the fact that Tesla's revenues increased by 67.9% to 11,758 million dollars.

A lot of marketing
Tesla and Musk, Musk and Tesla; a marriage driven by marketing and big ads around both. 2017 was the year where the South African and the Californian company made a new bet the: semi-autonomous electric trucks.

Its arrival is scheduled for 2019 and will be equipped with cameras and sensors scattered throughout the truck, both on the front and back and sides. The company assures that it will be possible to control at all times where the truck is going and the route it is traveling.

The publication of Tesla results comes a day after SpaceX, another of Musk's companies, successfully launched the heavy Falcon Heavy rocket with a Tesla Roadster at the end of the ship, a feat that has covered the covers Of the media.

Although it does not convince analysts with their words for 2018. "At some point in 2018 we expect to start generating positive quarterly operating income in a sustained manner."