Tesla's massive $1.1 billion manufacturing facility at Travis County in Austin, Texas, has started to produce its famed electric vehicles, the automaker confirmed on Wednesday, January 26, during its conference call.
Tesla told investors during its fourth-quarter earnings report that Gigafactory Texas has started building Model Ys late last year, and the company will deliver these vehicles to customers once the final certification of the mid-size SUV is secured.
Construction of Giga Texas has moved quickly since CEO Elon Musk selected the area near its Austin headquarters as the site of its next factory. Musk chose Austin after receiving substantial tax breaks from Travis County and the Del Valle school district worth a combined $60 million to build Tesla's facility there. That is a huge boost to the Austin economy, with Musk expecting the factory to employ 10,000 workers.
Tesla said that the pace of production in Austin would be ramping up in the coming days, influenced by the successful introduction of many new products and manufacturing technologies in new locations. Apart from the Model Y, which is the main priority of Giga Texas at the moment, Tesla is also making significant progress in developing the much-awaited Cybertruck, with Austin also in charge of the production of that vehicle.
Tesla had a breakthrough year in 2021, posting record profits to stamp its class in the burgeoning EV market. Tesla made $5.5 billion in net income last year, crushing the previous record of $3.47 billion it posted back in 2020. Musk said that Tesla's 2021 earnings pushed its accumulated net income into the profitable territory since its 2003 inception.
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The bulk of those earnings came in the fourth quarter, with Tesla recording $2.32 billion in profits from October to December last year. That was equivalent to $2.54 per share, easily topping Wall Street's expectations of $2.36 per share for Tesla. The company made an emphatic statement to its investors after the fourth-quarter numbers were revealed, saying, "There should no longer be doubt about the viability and profitability of electric vehicles."
Musk expects continued growth for Tesla in 2022, shifting its focus to the factories in Austin, Texas and Berlin, Germany. Musk believes these facilities will be key to Tesla's prospects. Industry analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities echoed those sentiments, saying he expects Tesla's facility in Austin to be the centerpiece of the company's production for the coming years.
Ives added that launching the Austin production is very important for Tesla as that will help them expand the production of Model Ys both domestically and globally. With the Austin factory off and running, Ives tips Tesla to have another massive year in 2022.
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