Elon Musk says Tesla factories are ‘money furnaces’ losing billions of dollars

“Both Berlin and Austin factories are gigantic money furnaces right now. It’s really like a giant roaring sound, which is the sound of money on fire,” said Mr Musk in an interview with the Tesla Owners of Silicon Valley.

Both are losing money, he said, as “there’s a ton of expense and hardly any output”.

Tesla’s next quarterly earnings are due in late July.

Musk has said he expects the EV manufacturer to deliver up to 1.5mln vehicles this year, up from the near-1mln delivered in 2021, despite supply chain issues.

Even with disruption to Giga Shanghai late in the previous quarter, the company increased revenues to US$18.76bn and increase gross profit margins.

Last month broker Wedbush, which has long held a ‘buy’ rating on the company’s shares, cut its forecasts for the current quarter.

Total deliveries of 277k are now expected, down from its prior 297k estimate, with revenue of US$15.9bn, down from US$16.9bn, and earnings per share cut to US$1.59 from US$2.29.

For the full year it predicted 1.43mln deliveries, down from 1.56mln, with US$81bn of revenue (from US$87.1bn) and pro-forma EPS of US$11.46 (US$12.62).