Why don't you put up actual sales numbers instead of percentages?

When Hertz announced buying 100,000 Teslas in 2021, many thought this would be a success story. Hertz confirmed in September that demand for Tesla cars in its fleet has been very strong, although pictures and stories shared on social media paint a different situation.

Hertz wowed everyone in October 2021 when it announced buying 100,000 Tesla cars in a bid to electrify 25% of its fleet until 2024. Based on Hertz’s reports from September last year, the Tesla venture couldn’t have been more successful. People flocked to rent electric vehicles, seduced by the low rates and the advantage of not paying for gas for their rentals. Or so said Hertz CEO Stephen Scherr.

“Demand has been very, very solid,”Scherr said in an exclusive Yahoo Finance Live interview in September 2022. “We’re seeing demand not just among leisure travelers, but also among corporate travelers, where in fact, corporations want their employees in an electric vehicle to satisfy some of their own carbon footprint objectives.”

This might be true, but stories shared on social media paint a different picture. Customers have unpleasant memories of driving a rented Tesla, and at least in the Boston area, Hertz parking lots are filled with Teslas that nobody wants to rent. It appears Uber drivers are the most likely customers to rent a Tesla, following a Uber-Hertz deal signed last spring, and not even they want to drive a rented Tesla.

Twitter user @PolitiReality posted pictures of hundreds of Tesla Model Y and Model 3 cars clogging a Hertz parking lot in Boston. Looking for a Hertz rental car online in the Boston area reveals that Tesla has the lowest rates, at $56,50 per day, whereas a Ford Focus small sedan costs more than double. Another user confirmed a similar situation at Hertz car rental in Chicago O’Hare airport (ORD). However, a Tesla rented at the Hertz office inside San Francisco International airport (SFO) could cost as much as $400 a day.

Based on the stories shared online, we figured Hertz had problems convincing its customers that electric vehicles are worth considering. The situation is better in California because the EV adoption rate in the state is the highest in the U.S. Nevertheless, people are still reluctant to try an electric vehicle in other areas. And when they do, they often don’t know how to drive them efficiently and end up disappointed.

An ICE driver shared on Reddit their experience renting a Tesla Model 3 from Hertz, and we must say the rental giant has a lot to do to educate its customers. Reddit user bomgd3 rented their Tesla from the Hertz office at Chicago O’Hare airport for $72 per day, and the car indicated an 83% battery charge. We say they were lucky, considering other users reported an almost completely depleted battery when they got theirs. The state of charge was enough to drive 280 miles (450 km), according to the trip computer, but it dropped to just 50 miles (80 km) after driving around 160 miles (260 km).

That’s not out of the ordinary, considering the winter temperatures. Unfortunately, not having experience with electric vehicles left the Hertz customer disappointed. They spent a while looking for a plug to charge and found one that promised to charge the car from 20% to 80% in about an hour. Unwilling to miss dinner, they gave up, probably unaware they could’ve let the car charge while eating. In the end, they charged the car to 75% of the battery at a Supercharger nearby the Hertz rental center in about 25 minutes.

Nevertheless, they complained about the $20 Supercharger fee, which means Hertz did not clarify that they can charge for free in the Supercharger network. The customer didn’t get to pay, but they still expect to be billed in the future for this expense. This has made them think they could fill up a gas rental car for the same money and drive further without the hassle. In the end, the real loser is Hertz. The company needs to step up if it wants to have an electric fleet in the future, or the customers might not be there to oblige.

Despite all odds, Tesla ended 2022 with a bang, reporting its most impressive financial results. Tesla’s 2022 financial data impressed on every metric, but executives took a more cautious approach toward 2023, while Elon Musk continued to hint at a “deep recession” coming.
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If we’re to take it from the last months of 2022, Tesla was in deep trouble, and the shares’ price dropped significantly, reflecting the negative investor sentiment. Tesla sales were down, demand was dwindling, and its famous gigafactories were filling the overflow parking lots across the globe with hard-to-sell electric vehicles. Or so everybody thought, except die-hard Tesla fans. Nevertheless, despite all odds, Tesla’s results in Q4 2022 impressed everyone, beating expectations on every metric.

Net profit for the Q4 2022 was $3.69 billion, or $1.07 per share, up 59% from the $2.32 billion or $.68 per share in Q4 2021. Revenue was $24.32 billion for the last three months of 2022, beating the analyst consensus by $160 million. Tesla sold 405,278 vehicles in the quarter, as revealed earlier. The automotive operation margin for the quarter dropped to 25.9%, the lowest in two years, but still impressive compared to the industry’s average.

Throughout 2022, Tesla reported $81.5 billion in revenue, 51% more than the previous year. Net profit last year totaled $20.85 billion, with a gross margin for the automotive business at 28.5%, down from 29.3% in 2021. Free cash flow increased in 2022 to $7.57 billion from $5.02 billion in 2021. Tesla now has $22.19 billion in its coffers, a 25% increase over the $17.71 billion at the end of 2021.

The margins were likely affected by the discounts offered in several markets at the end of 2022. Tesla has enjoyed solid margins throughout 2022 thanks to huge demand, which has allowed it to increase prices. Elon Musk has blamed the “radical interest rate changes” for the sluggish demand. Nevertheless, the recent price cuts in January have accelerated demand to the highest level in Tesla’s history, as Musk said during the earnings call meeting with investors. According to Tesla’s CEO, current orders are two times higher than production capacity, which made analysts bullish for 2023.

Nevertheless, Musk took a more cautious approach when providing 2023 guidance. Tesla is expected to grow sales to 1.8 million vehicles this year, representing a 37% increase. This is much slower than earlier Tesla estimates of 50% growth year over year for the foreseeable future. Musk is still expecting a deep recession, making him sound bearish on Tesla’s prospects in 2023.

Although various factors could impact the numbers, Tesla’s long-term goal remains a 50% growth rate. “In some years we may grow faster and some we may grow slower, depending on a number of factors,” Tesla reps said during the earnings call. The EV maker could push for 2 million vehicles in 2023 if economic conditions don’t deteriorate.

Tesla massively discounted its electric vehicle in a surprising move in early January. The price cuts have had a positive effect on sales, but Tesla doesn’t seem satisfied, at least in the case of the Model S and Model X. A new discount is in for people who trade in their cars for a Model S/X, but Tesla is less upfront about this offer.

If there’s one thing that people appreciate at Tesla is its transparent, no-haggle pricing policy. It doesn’t matter whether you want to buy a used EV or a new one, from inventory or a custom order; you know from the start how much it will cost you and how you will pay for the car. On the other hand, other carmakers are at the mercy of dealerships, which have a firm grip on the final price of a vehicle. They use hidden fees, price markups, and sometimes shoddy practices to force a price on you and make you pull the trigger on one of their cars.

Nevertheless, with Tesla becoming more of an established carmaker, it seems to learn from other carmakers’ and dealerships’ practices. Teslarati discovered that Tesla offers additional discounts or free Supercharging to people purchasing a Model S or Model X under certain conditions. The new offer is not for everybody, but only “select” customers on an invite-only basis.

Tesla Model S and Model X were some of the most discounted models in Tesla’s lineup. The former had its price dropped by $10,000 to $21,000, while the Model X got an $11,000-$19,000 discount. These price cuts are clearly not working as planned because Tesla is adding an additional $3,000 discount. This or three years of free Supercharging, with the condition that customers also trade in their Tesla. The interesting part is that this offer is not for everybody.

According to Teslarati, the offer is part of Tesla’s “Ownership Loyalty Offer,” which hints at efforts to keep existing customers loyal to the brand. Several Tesla owners who expressed interest in purchasing new vehicles either through trade-in value requests or test drives have received a follow-up call from an Ownership Loyalty Team member offering them the discount as long as the order is placed soon. How soon it’s unclear, but the offer is said to expire “in February” without specifying an exact date.

The new offer makes the Model S prices start at $91,990 for the Dual Motor variant ($111,990 for the Model S Plaid). The Model X price with the new offer is $106,990 (Dual Motor) and $116,990 (Plaid). We think these prices are aimed at people fancying switching to a Lucid Air, whose Pure trim will soon start at $87,400, albeit for a lesser trim with rear-wheel drive.

Tesla obviously doesn’t want to communicate the discount, and that’s why this is an invite-only offer. Although questionable, this practice is still better than what car dealerships offer their customers, considering the market adjustment fees and other horror stories. At least this one ends with a discount, not a price hike.

Tesla bucked the trend among tech companies when it comes to the number of jobs created in 2022.

While tech giants like Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Twitter laid off tens of thousands of employees last year to save money in the face of a coming recession – and some will continue to do so – Tesla on its own has added almost 29,000 new employees in 2022, a 22-percent increase over the previous year.

In fairness, Tesla did lay off employees last year, but the people affected were mostly holding unnecessary full-time corporate and remote positions. While Tesla said it would slash its salaried headcount by as much as 10 percent, it also mentioned plans to increase the number of hourly employees in manufacturing.

In an email to employees last year, CEO Elon Musk said 10 percent of salaried positions would be eliminated, noting that the reduction did not apply to "anyone building cars, battery packs, or installing solar." Musk also promised that hourly headcount would increase.

He later said that there would be a 3-3.5 percent total reduction in headcount, not 10 percent. As it turns out, Tesla hired way more people last year than it let go.

In a 10-K SEC form released this morning and picked up by Teslarati, Tesla said it finished 2022 with a full-time headcount of 127,855 employees globally, an increase of 28,565 employees over the previous year.
"Our greatest asset is our people and we continue to attract the best and brightest with our competitive pay and benefits package which starts with ownership. We offer employees the opportunity to receive equity during their employment and share in the success of Tesla. As of December 31, 2022, our full-time count for our and our subsidiaries' employees worldwide was 127,855, a 29,000 year-over-year increase."
At the end of 2021, Tesla said it had 99,290 employees, up from 70,757 in 2020. The spectacular increases in the number of employees reflect Tesla's growing activities in the automotive and energy sectors.

Manufacturing is Tesla's main activity, and the company is constantly adding new workers to keep up with increased vehicle production rates. The automaker delivered 1.3 million vehicles last year and expects to hand over at least 1.8 million in 2023, which means that Tesla needs to continue to ramp production to reach this goal.

More employees will obviously be needed to sustain the increased output. Tesla's Gigafactories are its largest employers, with Giga Texas expected to contribute the most to headcount growth in the coming years. Musk previously hinted that as many as 20,000 people could eventually be employed at the Austin plant, which also houses Tesla's global headquarters.