Despite chip shortage, Tesla delivers close to 1 million cars in 2021 becoming world's biggest EV maker

Of the total 936,172 unit sales, Model 3 and Y made up the most of deliveries, compared to the 24,964 Model S and X deliveries, both of which are among the expensive Tesla models.

Elon Musk (File pic)

For the first time in history of Tesla, the US electric carmaker has delivered close to a million vehicles in a calender year. Tesla reported a record sales of 936,172 vehicles in 2021, an 87 per cent increase over the 499,550 vehicle deliveries Tesla made in 2020. Both the Model 3 and Y made up the most of deliveries at 936,172 shipments, compared to the 24,964 Model S and X deliveries, which are among the expensive Tesla models globally.

In the fourth quarter (Q4) alone, the Elon Musk-run electric car-maker achieved production of more than 305,000 vehicles and deliveries of over 308,000 vehicles -- up from 241,300 deliveries in the third quarter (Q3). Of the deliveries, 11,750 were for the Model S and X, while 296,850 were for the Model 3 and Y.

"In 2021, we delivered over 936,000 vehicles. Thank you to all of our customers, employees, suppliers, shareholders and supporters who helped us achieve a great year," Tesla said in a statement. "Great work by the Tesla team worldwide!" tweeted Musk.

Tesla had said last year that it aims at increasing its deliveries by about 50 per cent. In the last leg of the third quarter (Q3), media reports said that Musk told employees in a company-wide call that "this is the craziest month of deliveries Tesla will ever have". The CEO noted that production issues due to supply chain constraints led to Tesla delaying deliveries and its service teams having to add parts to vehicles produced earlier in the quarter.

Meanwhile, the electric car maker has issued voluntary recalls for nearly half-a-million vehicles to address potential failures in their trunk latching system. The recall applies to all Model 3 units released between 2017 and 2020, as well as certain Model S units.

With inputs from IANS