(Bloomberg) — Elon Musk said supply constraints are the biggest brake on Tesla Inc.’s growth, rather than competition from rival automakers.
“Our constraints are much more in raw materials and being able to scale up production,” Musk said in an interview with Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait at the Qatar Economic Forum.
“As anyone knows who has tried to order a Tesla, the demand for our cars is extremely high and the wait list is long,” he said. “This is not intentional and we’re increasing production capacity as fast as humanly possible.”
Musk earlier this month said the EV pioneer has had a “very tough quarter” as it struggles with supply-chain snags and urged workers to help get production back on track.
“This has been a very tough quarter, primarily due to supply chain and production challenges in China,” Musk said in an email to employees. “So we need to rally hard to recover!”
Tesla’s Shanghai factory, capable of churning out around 2,100 cars a day in normal times, was shuttered for three weeks through mid-April during Shanghai’s months-long lockdown. The automaker went to extraordinary lengths to get it up and running again, getting staff to live and work onsite in a so-called closed loop system.
Asked whether he saw competition in EVs coming from established global auto giants like Volkswagen AG and Ford Motor Co., which are pouring tens of billions of dollars into electrifying their fleets, or Chinese upstarts like Nio Inc. and Xpeng Inc., Musk praised the Chinese firms.
“I am very impressed with the car companies in China in general,” he said. “I think they are extremely competitive, hard working and smart.”
Qatar’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Qatar Investment Authority and Investment Promotion Agency Qatar are the underwriters of the Qatar Economic Forum, Powered by Bloomberg. Media City Qatar is the host organization.
(Adds further comment from Musk in 8th paragraph.)
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