Closing out a turbulent 2022 with a strong fourth quarter, Austin-based Tesla on Wednesday reported record fourth-quarter profits, with CEO Elon Musk predicting the electric automaker is on a path to becoming "the most valuable company on Earth."

Despite a wide array of challenges last year — COVID-19 shutdowns that limited production at Tesla plant in Shanghai, supply chain issues, decreased demand and investor concerns that he was distracted by his $44 billion purchase of social media platform Twitter — Musk insisted that 2022 was "fantastic year" for the company, even though its share price tumbled 65% last year. Shares are up about 35% in January.

"It was our best year ever on so many levels." Musk said during a Wednesday conference call with investors. "The Tesla team achieved these records despite the fact that 2022 was an incredibly challenging year due to forced shutdowns, very high interest rates and many delivery challenges."

As Tesla continues to step up production in Austin, Musk said the company is closing in on starting to build its Cybertruck at the Central Texas manufacturing facility. The company moved its corporate headquarters to Austin in 2021.

Musk said despite shaky economic conditions, he is convinced Tesla's best days are ahead of it.

"There's going to be bumps along the way, and we will probably have a pretty difficult recession this year probably. I hope not, but probably," Musk said. "But long-term, Tesla will be the most valuable company on Earth."

Some key takeaways from Tesla's earnings report.

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Record profit, revenue to close out 2022

Tesla produced its highest-ever quarterly revenue, net income and operating income in the fourth quarter.

For all of 2022, Tesla's revenue rose to $81.5 billion, a 51% jump over 2021.

Tesla made $3.69 billion in its fourth quarter, an adjusted $1.19 per share. The earnings beat Wall Street estimates of $1.13 that had been predicted by analysts, according to FactSet. The company also saw a 59% more in profit than the fourth quarter in the previous year. The company's revenue for the fourth quarter of $24.32 billion was also a record, although it fell short of analyst projections of $24.67 billion.

Tesla cut prices late last year and early this month in the U.S, China and Europe. In the United States, prices were cut between 6% and 20% on certain models.

"Price really matters," Musk said. "These price changes really make a difference for the average consumer."

Musk said Tesla is seeing increased demand in January, with orders coming in at about twice the rate of production. He said Tesla has raised Model Y prices slightly due to demand. Tesla had lowered the Model Y price to $52,990 this month, but it is currently listed at $53,490 on Tesla's website.

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Tesla expects production to keep growing

Tesla had previously announced that it sold 1.3 million vehicles last year. That was a record for the company, but fell short of Musk's goal to grow sales by 50% every year.

In the fourth quarter alone, Tesla made 405,278 vehicle deliveries and produced 439,701 vehicles. The company said it is on track for 50% growth moving forward.

Musk said increasing long-term production rates will be key.

"We're taking the view that we want to keep making as many cars as we can," Musk said. "We're going to keep pushing for strong volume growth while retaining the industry's best operating margins. As we've mentioned many times before, we want to be the best manufacturer."

Between its vehicle production facilities in Austin, Berlin, Shanghai and Fremont, Tesla can make 100,000 Model S and Model X vehicles and 1.8 million Model Y and Model 3 vehicles a year, the company said.

Musk said the cost of production in Berlin and Austin is dropping. Zachary Kirkhorn, Tesla's chief financial officer, said he expects Austin and Berlin will make substantial progress in 2023, especially in battery production.

Tesla said it has the capacity to produce 250,000 Model Y vehicles in Austin.

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Moving ahead with Cybertruck production

Tesla's Austin facility currenlty lists the Cybertruck as in the “tooling” stage, a sign that the long-anticipated vehicle is moving closer to starting full production.

Musk said the cybertruck will not be significant for Tesla's bottom line in 2023, but predicted it will be in 2024. Company executives said volume production will begin next year, but early steps, such as casting, have already started at the Austin facility. Musk said he plans to drive the Cybertruck himself.

"It will be the car I drive every day," Musk said. "It's one of those products that only comes around once in a while. It's really special."

Tesla continues to add to its Austin facility, with plans to grow it by millions of square feet in the coming months.

These additions would come as the company also builds out in Nevada. Tuesday Tesla announced plans to spend $3.6 billion to build new factories to manufacture its electric semitruck and batteries, growing its Gigafactory Nevada site near Reno-Sparks. The company made the first deliveries on the long-anticipated product last month to PepsiCo. On Wednesday the company listed the Semi as in pilot production.

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'Moment of truth' for Elon Musk

In a note to clients, industry analyst Dan Ives with Wedbush Securities said Wednesday earnings call would be "one of the most important" in Tesla’s history.

“After experiencing unprecedented hyper growth over the past few years in the EV market which was essentially created by Musk, now Tesla faces a darker macro in 2023 with fierce competition coming from all angles,” Ives said. “Adding to that backdrop is Musk who has essentially gone from a superhero with a red cape to a villain in the eyes of many investors after the ongoing Twitter fiasco has cast a dark shadow over Tesla's stock.”

Ives said while Musk has been open about his concerns for the global economy, Tesla investors are looking to understand what that means for the company.

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“Tesla is Musk and Musk is Tesla,” Ives said. “With all the worries about Musk's attention on Twitter... this is a key moment of truth for Musk. Elon needs to give investors comfort around this tight wire balancing act and reiterate his goals for the year and lay out the strategic vision despite a near-term dark macro.”

This story includes material from the Associated Press.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Elon Musk's Tesla finished uneven 2022 with strong 4th quarter