Tesla CEO Elon Musk told shareholders that the EV maker will have an annual run rate of 2 million vehicles by the end of this year and will continue to build new factories to join the four it currently has in operation.
Musk said Tesla could announce a new factory location as soon as this year.
Tesla is targeting an annual output of 20 million vehicles a year, which Musk said would require 10 or 12 “gigafactories” with capacity of 1.5 to 2 million vehicles each.
Total Tesla production in 2021 was just over 1 million vehicles, but Musk said Thursday that the current run rate was 1.5 million vehicles from four factories: Fremont, California; Shanghai; Berlin-Brandenburg, Germany; and Austin, Texas.
“If all goes as planned, we will be exiting 2022 at a 2 million annual run rate,” Musk said, adding that production in Tesla’s two newest factories, in Germany and Texas, was facing “10,000” small problems that were being solved “one at a time.”
The annual shareholders' meeting came two weeks after Tesla reported a jump in second-quarter profits linked to price increases.