Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) superbull Cathie Wood of ARK Invest recently made some keen observations for investors following the automaker’s release of its Q3 2021 vehicle production and delivery report. Specifically, the ARK Invest founder pointed out Tesla’s notable increase in US car sales and GM’s decrease in the third quarter, despite the ongoing chip shortage.
“Today, $TSLA announced that in the third quarter it sold 241,300 vehicles globally, up 73% year over year (YoY) and 20% quarter over quarter (QOQ),” Wood’s stated in a recent tweet. “Meanwhile, $ GM blamed the ~33% YoY decline in its US sales on chip shortages. What? # EVs require 3-5x more chips per car produced!”
Shortly after the third quarter ended, Tesla released its production and delivery numbers. In the third quarter, Tesla produced 8,941 Model S/Model X while delivering 9,275 of them. The company also produced 228,882 Model 3/Model Y units, delivering 232,025.
In total, Tesla produced 237,823 and delivered 241,300 cars in Q3 2021. In the second quarter, Tesla produced a total of 206,421 vehicles and delivered 201,250. While in the first quarter, the EV maker produced 180,338 units and delivered 184,800. As can be gleaned by Tesla’s quarterly production and delivery reports, the company’s numbers are steadily rising quarter over quarter.
Meanwhile, GM reported delivering 446,997 vehicles in the United States in the third quarter, down 218,195 units compared to 2020. In the first quarter, GM reported that all of its US brands had seen double-digit increases YoY in retail sales. It sold 642,250 vehicles in the US in Q1 2021. Total sales were up 4% compared to April 2020. In July, at the end of the second quarter, GM reported an increase of 40% compared to a year ago.
The legacy automaker cited semiconductor “supply chain disruptions and historically low inventories” as the reason for the decrease in US sales.
“The semiconductor supply disruptions that impacted our third-quarter wholesale and customer deliveries are improving. As we look to the fourth quarter, a steady flow of vehicles held at plants will continue to be released to dealers, we are restarting production at key crossover and car plants, and we look forward to a more stable operating environment through the fall,” noted Steve Carlisle, the executive vice president and president of GM North America.
Disclaimer: I am long TSLA.
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