Tesla to release quarterly sales figures
‘Inaccurate sources of information’ spur company to offer data
PALO ALTO — Tesla Motors has avoided conducting business like traditional automakers and paid for it with sales bans that reached a fifth state Friday, but the company has decided to give in on the practice of providing regular sales figures.
The electric car manufacturer announced Friday that customers received 10,030 cars in the first three months of the year, surpassing its projection of 9,500 deliveries and establishing a new quarterly record. It was the first time Tesla had immediately provided sales figures after the end of the quarter, and the company said in its release that it would continue to provide the information within three days of the end of each three-month period.
“We have decided to take this approach because inaccurate sources of information are sometimes used by others to project the number of vehicle deliveries,” the company said in its statement.
Kelley Blue Book analyst Karl Brauer said that Tesla CEO Elon Musk made the move for the same reason his competitors did years ago.
“He’s learned what most carmakers already knew, which is you’re better off controlling the message than having this void and other people filling it in for you,” Brauer said Friday.
Most traditional carmakers announce sales monthly; totals released April 1 showed overall sales gained 1 percent year-over-year in
March to 1.5 million new cars and trucks. Tesla’s sales grew 55 percent year-over-year in the first quarter, but it will have to expand at a faster pace to hit Musk’s goal of delivering 55,000 electric cars this year.
Brauer noted that “10,000 a quarter ain’t gonna get them there,” adding that it will take strong execution on the planned summer launch of Tesla’s new Model X and improved performance in China for Tesla to come close to its projection.
Musk sounded confident in discussing the Palo Alto company’s goal in February, saying then on a conference call: “Even if our sales in China were zero this year, I’m still confident we could do the 55,000 cars.”
Tesla won’t be selling cars in West Virginia any time soon, however. The state’s governor signed a bill Friday that bars the company’s direct-sales approach in that state. Tesla now is banned from selling cars in at least five states after New Jersey passed legislation to rescind a ban last month. The company operates “galleries” in Texas, Arizona and Maryland because sales are not allowed there, and Michigan passed a law that prohibits direct automobile sales in 2014.
In an emailed statement, a Tesla executive in charge of regulatory affairs expressed disappointment in the move, and he pointed out that the president of West Virginia’s state Senate — whom Tesla said “originated and championed” the legislation — owns several auto dealerships.
“Despite a campaign based on pro-business and free market principles, the Senate president’s bill prevents competition and protects the car dealer monopoly,” Tesla executive Jim Chen said in the statement.
A ban in West Virginia is unlikely to hurt Tesla much: The company’s current Model S offering has a price tag starting at $70,000, and West Virginia has the fifth-lowest median household income among U.S. states at $42,581, according to 2014 census figures.
“I don’t see (West Virginia) as a big priority on Elon’s to-do list,” Brauer said.