Tesla saw a breakthrough 2021 with $5.5 bn net income: Musk

Elon Musk has said that 2021 was a breakthrough year for Tesla and for electric vehicles in general, as the EV maker ended last year with $5.5 billion in net income, compared to $721 million in 2020.

Tesla produced 305,840 vehicles in the fourth quarter, a 70 per cent increase over the previous year.

For the full year 2021, the company delivered 936,172 vehicles, just short of the promised 1 million vehicles but still an increase of 87 per cent over the previous year.

"While we battled, as everyone did, with supply chain challenges through the year, we managed to grow our volumes by nearly 90 percent last year," Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in an earnings call late on Wednesday.

Tesla said its first Model Y vehicles to be made at its new Austin, Texas factory were nearing completion.

"If we were to introduce new vehicles, our total vehicle output will decrease; We will not be introducing new vehicle models this year. It wouldn't make sense," said Musk.

According to him, 2022 is the year "we will be looking at factory locations to see what makes the most sense with possibly some announcement by the end of this year".

Tesla also highlighted its controversial Full Self-Driving product as "a primary area of focus."

"There are several profound improvements to the FSD stack that are coming in the next few months," he said.