Last year marked another 12 months of sharp growth for electric-car maker Tesla (TSLA +0.28%). As deliveries of its new Model X SUV ramped up steeply during the year, revenue soared.
Since Tesla's annual report for 2016 was released earlier this month, it's a good time to review the company's performance last year. Here's a close look at some of Tesla's most defining metrics from 2016.
The Model S. Image source: Tesla.
$7 billion: Tesla's revenue hit $7 billion in 2016. While that's still a far cry from Detroit's Big Three, each of which boasts revenue well over $100 billion, it's a nice increase compared to Tesla's $4 billion in revenue in 2015, or its $413 million in 2012 -- the year Tesla launched its Model S sedan.
73%: Helping mitigate concerns about Tesla's ability to scale its automotive business, gross profit last year surged 73%, from $924 million in 2015 to $1.6 billion in 2016.
($675 million): But despite growing revenue and gross profit, the electric-car maker still didn't achieve profitability for the full year. Tesla lost about $675 million, though the loss was narrower than the company's $889 million loss in 2015.
1,153%: Tesla's energy-generation and storage revenue catapulted last year, rising from $14.5 million in 2015 to $181 million in 2016. While $84.1 million of this increase is due to the inclusion of SolarCity revenue from the acquisition date of Nov. 21, a good chunk of the increase was driven by higher energy-storage revenue as the company ramped up energy-storage production and sales.
64%: Tesla's vehicle production increased 64% year over year, driven primarily by a steep ramp-up in Model X production throughout the year.
The Model X. Image source: Author.
25,300: Tesla delivered about 25,300 Model X units during 2016, up from about 200 in 2015. The big increase in Model X deliveries is a result of the vehicle's launch timing. Tesla launched the Model X toward the end of 2015, but didn't really begin to meaningfully ramp up production until the first quarter of 2016.
51,000: Tesla's Model S remained the company's bread and butter. Tesla sold about 51,000 Model S units, up 1% year over year. The vehicle continues to outsell all other similarly priced large luxury sedans in North America, and in some key markets in Europe.
790: As Tesla's total vehicle deliveries increased about 51% during 2016, the company aggressively expanded its Supercharger network to support its growing fleet. Tesla ended the year with 790 Supercharger locations and 5,043 Supercharger connections at these locations. This is up from 582 sites and 3,448 connections at the end of 2015.
A Model S charging at a Supercharger location. Image source: Author.
$825 million: Tesla incurred about $825 million of costs for its under-construction Gigafactory, a massive factory designed to help build enough batteries to equip 500,000 vehicles in 2018, and to support Tesla's growing energy-storage sales. This is up significantly from the company's $318 million in costs for its Gigafactory in 2015.
Overall, Tesla's 2016 was a year marked by significant growth. But the capital-intensive nature of the auto business continued to weigh on the company's profitability.
