Deliveries amounted to 241,300 vehicles to be exact. By far, the bulk of the sales were for the Model 3 and Y. The exact countries in which they were sold were not disclosed. Perhaps especially in China and the United States, because those are the two most important markets for Tesla. In the Netherlands, the American brand is having a hard time. Less than 2,000 Tesla were sold in the entire year. Newer electric cars from other brands perform better. 3600 Skoda Enyaq electric sold this year.

With these numbers, CEO Elon Musk’s company exceeded analyst expectations. Even an analyst from Wedbush Securities described the new numbers as impressive. Experts generally assumed that Tesla would be most affected by the global shortage of computer chips.

Many other automakers have had to shut down factories temporarily due to problems surrounding the chips. Tesla’s competitors’ production targets have also been revised downward.

Musk said in June that chip shortages in the auto sector were Tesla’s biggest challenge. He also noted at the time that companies were buying far more computer chips than they actually needed for fear of running out of stock later. He compared this to the massive hoarding of toilet paper by consumers at the beginning of the Corona pandemic.

The reason for the huge shortage of semiconductors is, among other things, the increased demand for laptops and other electronic devices during the coronavirus lockdowns. To make matters worse, chip manufacturers actually reduced their capacity for some types of chips in recent years, because demand for them was rather weak at the time. Experts fear that chip shortages may persist for a while, as chip manufacturers ramp up production.