Tesla earns 5 times more per car than Toyota, earnings show (2024)

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Tesla earns 5 times more per car than Toyota, earnings show? ›

NAGOYA, Japan -- Toyota Motor earned less than a fifth in per-vehicle earnings compared with Tesla during the April-December period as Japan's giant automaker struggles to absorb rising costs.

Through the first six months of 2023, Toyota was the market leader with 14.7% of all new vehicle sales in California, despite being outpaced by Tesla between April and June. Rounding out the top five were Tesla (13.6%), Honda (9.3%), Ford (8.1%) and Chevrolet (6.9%).

When comparing the Tesla brand to the Toyota brand, Tesla has the advantage in the areas of horsepower, fuel efficiency, towing capacity and safety. Toyota has the advantage in the areas of used car pricing, depreciation, overall quality, reliability, retained value, vehicle rankings and variety of models offered.

Toyota relies on huge production volumes to lower their costs. For a car that sells for $5,000, the manufacturer can make about $2,500 in profits, leaving the cost of manufacturing at about $12,500.

But the cuts have weighed on Tesla's profit. In 2022, Tesla was one of the most profitable carmakers in the world, but its margins from vehicle sales have fallen by almost one-third in the last year and are now comparable to those of other large rivals.

Toyota's $9.5 billion operating profit is number one. in the year-ago third quarter, Tesla had the best operating profit margin, about 17.2%. However, significant price cuts have eaten away at profitability. Tesla's third-quarter 2023 operating profit margin was about 7.6%, more than halved from the year-ago period.

Over the last four quarters, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) generated total revenue and earnings of $96 billion and $15 billion, respectively. Toyota's (NYSE:TM) revenue and earnings are roughly three times larger at $299 billion and $44 billion. Yet Tesla's market cap is more than double that of Toyota.

For the first time ever, an all-electric vehicle — specifically the Tesla Model Y — is now the world's bestselling car. According to analyst data from Jato Dynamics (published by Motor1), the Tesla Model Y has surpassed Toyota's RAV4 and Corolla models to top global sales rankings in the first quarter of 2023.

Who Are Tesla's Top 3 Competitors? Ford, GM, NIO, and Volkswagen are four of Tesla's main competitors. In 2022, the Chinese manufacturer BYD sold more than 1.85 million plug-in electric cars, more than tripling its 2021 result of 593,745.

In Q2 alone, Tesla outsold Toyota by 69,212 units to 67,482, according to Experian Automotive (via Electrek). Tesla also boasts the largest market share in Q2 with 14.6%, while Toyota's share stood at 14.2% during the same period. “That's beautiful to see,” wrote Elektrek's Fred Lambert of the change.

How much debt is Toyota in? ›

Total debt on the balance sheet as of December 2023 : $240.93 B. According to Toyota's latest financial reports the company's total debt is $240.93 B. A company's total debt is the sum of all current and non-current debts.

NAGOYA -- Tesla earned eight times as much profit per vehicle as Toyota Motor in the July-September quarter despite being outsold more than 7 to 1, a Nikkei analysis shows, putting the American electric-vehicle maker ahead in quarterly net profit for the first time since going public in 2010.

This was partly due to the increased demand for electric cars after the Model S and Model X, launched in 2012 and 2015, failed to generate significant revenue for Tesla.

While non-union electric vehicle maker Tesla is the most profitable US automaker, it was losing money until 2019. At that point Tesla was making as few EVs as the legacy automakers, such as Stellantis, Ford and GM, are now manufacturing as they move towards a pure EV lineup.

Tesla posted its first full year of net income in 2020 – but not because of sales to its customers. Eleven states require automakers sell a certain percentage of zero-emissions vehicles by 2025.

As Tesla's sales soared by 62% compared to Q2 2022, Toyota's shrank by 8%. The result: for the first time ever, Tesla was the best-selling brand in California, edging out long-time front-runner Toyota. Tesla sold 69,212 cars in the quarter, while Toyota shifted 67,482.

Over the last four quarters, Tesla generated total revenue and earnings of $96 billion and $15 billion, respectively. Toyota's revenue and earnings are roughly three times larger at $299 billion and $44 billion. Yet Tesla's market cap is more than double that of Toyota.

Tesla and Toyota are two very different companies, but they are the world's most valuable auto makers. Tesla's market capitalization is about $840 billion while Toyota's is about $270 billion. One reason for the difference is Tesla only sells EVs, which are growing rapidly and taking share from traditional vehicles.