In 2020, Elon Musk made a declaration: Tesla aimed to sell 20 million vehicles by the end of the decade.
In 2021 and 2022, the company repeated this objective, which is twice the number of cars sold by Toyota, in its annual impact reports. The just-released 2023 report, however, has left the aspiration out.
The downplaying of the ambitious goal comes as Tesla has seen sales slow and corporate revenues plunge. In the first quarter, net income at Tesla fell 55% from the prior year, and its gross profit margin was down by 17.4%.
The company warned investors its vehicle sales growth “may be notably lower” than last year as it works on the launch of its next-generation vehicle and other products.
One of those other products is a fully autonomous robo-taxi, which Tesla seems to be counting on for its next big revenue push. Musk has said the robo-taxi will be unveiled on Aug. 8, though there has been no announced release date yet (and Musk is notorious for being overly optimistic when making product proclamations).
Price cuts have been unable to sustain consumer interest in the vehicles, but investors are hoping the release of the more affordable Model 2 version will give the company another sales boost. Earlier this year, Musk said those vehicles could begin production as soon as this year.
“It’s not contingent on any new factory or massive new production line. It’ll be made on our current production lines much more efficiently,” Musk said during Tesla’s earnings call.
Some analysts, though, say they will believe that when it actually happens.
The company did not give a new estimate for sales in its impact report.
