The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tesla 3Q production numbers up
Tesla Motors successfully ramped up production of its pivotal Model 3 sedan during the summer, fulfilling CEO Elon Musk’s pledge to work out the manufacturing problems that had raised questions about the electric carmaker’s prospects.
The company announced Tuesday that it produced 80,142 vehicles in the third quarter, marking a 50 percent increase over the previous quarter.
Tesla had been regularly missing its production goals while amassing huge losses, fueling doubts about its ability to expand from its niche of making luxury sports cars powered by electricity to become a major automaker. When the company hit its target for the first time in the last week of June, some questioned whether the feat was sustainable.
On Tuesday, the company proved that it could repeat its success.
A total of 53,239 Model 3 vehicles rolled off Tesla’s assembly line during the third quarter, hitting Musk’s target of 50,000 to 55,000 for Tesla’s first electric car designed for the mass market, and nearly doubling the second quarter’s volume.
It produced 26,903 Model S and X vehicles. That’s slightly better than its second-quarter performance and in line with its full-year guidance.
The company’s target of 100,000 Model S and X deliveries in 2018 remains unchanged.
“Today’s production announcement offers a bit of
redemption to the Tesla faithful,” said Jeremy Acevedo, Edmunds manager of industry analysis, in an email. “It’s refreshing to see the company making headlines for producing cars, not controversies.”
Indeed, the controversies abound for Tesla.
Just last week, Musk cleared a dark cloud hang- ing over the company when he agreed to settle a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission case alleging he had misled investors by declaring he had lined up the financing to take Tesla private.
The SEC wanted to oust Musk as CEO as punish- ment.
Musk is staying on as CEO, but giving up his chair- manship.
Musk and Tesla will each pay $20 million to resolve the case.
The production increases are something Musk worked nearly to exhaustion to achieve.
He has publicly said he has been working as much as 120 hours per week and sometimes even slept on Tesla’s factory floor in Fremont, Calif., to oversee the efforts to make more cars.
The company even built a heavy-duty tent to add space to make more Model 3s.
But doubts remain whether t he company can continue to crank out enough vehicles to achieve profitability, something that still eludes Tesla.
Tesla has never turned an annual profit during its eight-year history and rarely done it on a quarterly basis, but it needs to reverse that trend to erase doubts about its survival.
The company has been under mounting pressure to stop burning through cash with $1.3 billion of its more than $10 billion in debt due to be repaid during the next six months.
In a Sept. 30 email, filed with the SEC on Monday, Musk said the electric carmaker is nearing profitability.
“We are very close to a chieving profitability and proving the naysayers wrong, but, to be certain, we must execute really well tomorrow,” the last day of the quarter, Musk said. “If we go all out tomorrow, we will achieve an epic victory beyond all expectations. Go Tesla!!!”