Tesla makes more money, confirms Texas plant

Electric vehicle crusader Tesla has posted four consecutive profitable quarters for the first time and promptly celebrated by naming Austin in Texas as the location of its next Gigafactory.

Tesla boss Elon Musk announced Austin during an investor call after the $US104 million ($A145m) profit was announced.

"I’ve never been more optimistic or excited about the future of Tesla," Musk said.

The profit was based on $US6 billion in revenues, including the sales of 90,650 vehicles and a record $US428 million ($600m) in regulatory credit sales.

These are credits offered by governments to Tesla for producing zero-emission vehicles that it on-sells to manufacturers of orthodox polluting vehicles. General Motors and Fiat Chrysler have both been buyers of regulatory credits from Tesla.

Achieving four profitable quarters in a row now qualifies the perennial loss-maker Tesla for the prestigious S&P 500, the stock market index that records the stock performance of the 500 largest companies listed on stock exchanges in the USA.

Tesla’s stock price had already been skyrocketing before this result and it had become the world’s most valuable car company on that basis ahead of Toyota. The stock is now expected to take another leap.

Tesla’s revenues were actually down five per cent on the same quarter 12 months ago, but back then that translated to a $US408 million (A$571m) loss.

Its sales total was up on the 88,000 recorded in Q1 2020, but down on the record 112,000 sold in Q4 2020.

Commendably, Tesla achieved its profit despite shutting its Fremont plant for seven weeks because of the coronavirus.

Less commendably, the ever-controversial Musk got into a spat with northern California health officials in April – describing them as fascists – over the coronavirus lockdown and defied them to reopen Fremont.

Tesla is now targeting 500,000 sales in 2020. While that looks a tall order, the China plant is now up and running, the Fremont plant is being expanded and the new Model Y medium SUV is in full production.

There are also plans for a significant performance upgrade to the older Model S large sedan and Model X large SUV later this year.

With the aid of tax incentives, Austin defeated the city of Tulsa in Oklahoma and others for the right to host the new Gigafactory.

It will be Tesla’s second assembly plant in the USA after Fremont, remembering the company also has a battery plant in Las Vegas.

Overseas, Shanghai will be joined by Berlin in 2021. There is also talk of a UK factory.

The 810-hectare Austin site, which Musk dubbed ‘GigaTexas’, will eventually employ 5000 workers and make the Model 3 and Model Y for the US east coast and – in the future – the Tesla Cybertruck pick-up and Semi truck.

"It's right on the Colorado River and we'll have a boardwalk alongside. It'll be an ecological paradise and it will be open to the public," Musk enthused.

Meanwhile, global Model S and X and west coast Model 3 and Y production will stay in Fremont. It may also eventually be the home of the Tesla Roadster.

Construction work has already started in Austin and some reports state the always optimistic Musk wants Model Ys rolling from the plant late this year.