ClaimsElon Musk

“And the 1.8 million cars, if we get lucky, it could be more.”

Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, on earnings call 26 January 2023 Tesla Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript (Motley Fool) archived copy

Guidance Economics and markets

Tesla expects to produce 1.8 million cars in 2023, possibly more if it gets lucky.

Resolved true The record shows it happened or was so.

Guidance: A company's own figures for its results over a period, checked against what it then reported.

The rule for a forecast that gives a range or a bound: the reported figure has to meet it as stated. A figure outside a range counts as not met whether it came in above or below, so beating a forecast is scored like missing it. The reasoning says which it was.

Said for an organisation they lead or work for; it counts on both records.

What would count as true or false

Quantity: Tesla's total vehicle production in calendar 2023. The guidance is about 1.8 million, possibly more, so it works as a floor of 1.8 million. True: reported production was 1.8 million or more (beating it is consistent with 'could be more'). Mostly false: production was below 1.8 million but within 2% (about 1.764 to 1.8 million). False: production was below about 1.764 million.

Set before the research began.

Evidence (4)

  1. E1 Tesla Vehicle Production & Deliveries and Date for Financial Results & Webcast for Fourth Quarter 2023 Tesla Investor Relations (Business Wire) · 2 January 2024 Own record

    “In 2023, vehicle deliveries grew 38% YoY to 1.81 million while production grew 35% YoY to 1.85 million.”
  2. E2 Tesla reported 485000 deliveries in Q4, bringing 2023 total ... CNBC · 2 January 2024

    “Total annual production 2023: 1,845,985”
  3. E3 Tesla reported 485000 deliveries in Q4, bringing 2023 total ... CNBC · 2 January 2024

    “In its last earnings call in October 2023, Tesla execs offered guidance that the company would notch at least 1.8 million deliveries for the full year, a number they had revised down from a 2 million goal earlier.”
  4. E4 SEC.gov | HOME U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (filed exhibit by Tesla, Q4 and FY 2023 Update Exhibit 99.1) Own record

    “Q4-2022 Q1-2023 Q2-2023 Q3-2023 Q4-2023 YoY Model 3/Y production 419,088 421,371 460,211 416,800 476,777 14% Other models production 20,613 19,437 19,489 13,688 18,212 -12% Total production 439,701 440,808 479,700 430,488 494,989 13%”

Reasoning

Tesla's Q4 2023 release reports that 2023 production grew 35% YoY to 1.85 million (E1). CNBC independently reports total 2023 annual production as 1,845,985 (E2). Tesla's filed quarterly figures for 2023 (440,808 + 479,700 + 430,488 + 494,989) give the same total (E4). This is above the 1.8 million floor, so the guidance resolved true for calendar 2023.

Cite this claim

Elon Musk, “Tesla expects to produce 1.8 million cars in 2023, possibly more if it gets lucky.” (said 26 January 2023). Verdict: resolved true. Reliability API, claim c_6f48c5805cf3, method 0.1.0+c876030c, dataset release v1.1.2. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_6f48c5805cf3

This claim is in dataset release v1.1.2, with the same verdict.

Reply to this claim

For Elon Musk, or someone speaking for them: a correction or counter-evidence. Replies are read before anything is shown; an approved reply shows your name, role, date, statement and link. Your email address is never shown and is deleted 30 days after the decision (privacy).

More guidance claims by Elon Musk

  1. Resolved false Guidance 27 January 2022
    “we do expect significant growth in 2022 over 2021, you know, comfortably above 50% growth in 2022.”

    Tesla expects growth in 2022 over 2021 comfortably above 50%.

  2. Resolved false Guidance 27 January 2022
    “it might grow by like 200% or 300% or something, you know, as opposed to sort of 50% or something.”

    If able to respond to demand, Tesla's energy business might grow by about 200% to 300% in 2022 rather than about 50%.

  3. Resolved false Guidance 27 January 2021
    “we've got a 100 gigawatt-hour total Tesla cells produced in 2022.”

    Tesla targets 100 gigawatt-hours of Tesla-produced cells in 2022.

  4. Resolved true Guidance 27 January 2021
    “I think this year, we may track to a fair bit about 50%, but we don't want to commit to that”

    Tesla may track to growth of a fair bit above 50% in 2021, though it does not commit to it.

All of them

Verdicts are made automatically; how verdicts are made.