Photo: Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg. Michael Wolf.
Toronto, Ontario — In this weekly Tuesday Ticker, Tesla faces a triple threat of troubles, while Toyota makes plans to break production records for the second consecutive year.
The NASDAQ remained closed on Monday due to Martin Luther King Day.
Tumultuous times for Tesla
Tesla is facing supply chain delays amid an ongoing crisis in the Red Sea—one of the main trade routes between Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
The EV maker’s shares were down three percent over Friday, facing pressure from supply chain delays and price cuts on vehicles in China.
Adding to Tesla’s plights is rental giant Hertz’s decision to pull most of its EVs from its U.S. fleet, selling them for as little as US$21,000.
According to a report from Automotive News Canada, Tesla has lost more than US$94 billion in valuation over the first two weeks of 2024.
Tesla announced last week that, from Jan. 29 through Feb. 11, production at its German factory will be suspended. According to analysts, this could mean approximately 5,000 to 7,000 units will not make it off assembly lines as scheduled.
Tesla is not the only automaker affected thus far; Geely-owned Volvo also announced production pauses last week, citing the Red Sea conflict as the cause.
Toyota’s top-line goals
Toyota shares recently saw a slump following a recall of nearly 1 million units globally, combined with OEM-owned Daihatsu’s admission it had been forging safety tests for 30 years.
Regardless, the Japanese automaker wants to produce 10.3 million vehicles globally in 2024, hoping to topple its record in annual production for the second straight year.
Toyota hopes to produce 3.4 million vehicles in Japan and 6.9 million overseas, it said. Figures include Lexus units.
In the first 11 months of 2023, Toyota produced 9.2 million vehicles. Full figures for 2023 have yet to be released.
