Tesla closed its first full year with profits in 2020, registering an attributed net profit of $721 million. In 2019, Tesla had $862 million in losses. According to the annual data published by the company, this positive result for the whole of last year comes after the Californian firm accumulates six consecutive positive quarters.
The company highlighted that this increase in its profitability was motivated by the increase in its sales volumes and the generation of liquidity. Nevertheless, this achievement of his does not come from the sale of electric cars.
Environmental programs are currently in place in several US states that require all automakers to produce a certain percentage of zero-emission vehicles. If some car manufacturers fail to comply with the requirement, they have to buy CO2 certificates from other carmakers to avoid punitive measures by the authorities.
Since Tesla only makes electric vehicles, you accumulate far more regulatory credits than you need to meet minimum regulatory requirements. Therefore, it sells what is left over to other companies so that they can avoid penalties. This is a very lucrative business for Tesla. In the past five years, Elon Musk's company has made $ 3.3 billion selling CO2 certificates. Almost half of these resources, about $1,600 million, were acquired in 2020.
Tesla's adjusted gross operating profit at the end of last year stood at 5,817 million dollars (4,806 million euros), 95% more in the comparison with the previous year.
Tesla, which plans to continually improve its operating margin, plans to start the delivery of vehicles manufactured at its Berlin and Texas plants (United States) this year.
Today, Tesla faces increasing competition in this market. Virtually all automakers produce their own electric vehicles or plan to do so. In fact, Volkswagen has already overtaken Tesla when it comes to electric vehicle sales in most of Europe.
