Can Tesla Sell 2 Million Cars?

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Jul 4, 9:42AM EDT

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Can Tesla Sell 2 Million Cars? — © Sjo / iStock Unreleased via Getty Images

Tesla has a chance to produce two million cars this year, although some consider that a long shot. To a large extent, it relies on whether price cuts will trigger a sharp increase in demand in the second half of the year.

One case to be made about a sharp jump in second half sales is first half sales results. Tesla announced that in the second quarter, production rose 85% to 479,700 compared to the same period last year. According to MarketWatch, “Earlier this year, Tesla cut prices globally by as much as 20% after missing Wall Street delivery estimates for 2022.” That level of price cuts is extremely unusual in the industry.

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One of Tesla’s primary challenges as it tries to keep up its growth pace is BYD, the top selling EV company in China. Tesla ranks second in EV sales in the world’s largest can market. Tesla will need to do better there for its current worldwide growth pace to continue.

It has been supposed that Tesla’s aging model line is a competitive disadvantage. So far, that is not true. Part of the reason this may not be a problem, short term, is that Tesla has no real competition outside China. Ford, which hopes to become the EV market share leader in America, only sells a few thousand EVs a month. Ford says that will change. Its management claims demand is already substantial, and all it needs is for production to move higher to meet that demand.

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Ford does have one vehicle Tesla cannot compete with. Full sized pick-ups are the best selling vehicles in the U.S. Ford, which leads the gas powered pick up industry with its F-150, has already produced an EV in the sector. The F-150 Lightning was early to the market. Tesla’s rival Cybertruck will not be in the market until close to the end of the year. Here are the most efficient cars on the market.

Rivals aside, Tesla’s sales pace is extraordinary. And, that may drive it to the production of two million vehicles this year.

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.