Tesla delivers record 24,500 cars in Q3
Carmaker says it’s on track to deliver 50,000 vehicles in second half of year
PALO ALTO — Tesla Motors shares rose more than 4 percent Monday, one day after the company said it delivered 24,500 cars during the three months that ended in September — a record for the electriccar maker and a 70 percent increase over its second-quarter vehicle shipments.
Tesla on Sunday said it delivered 15,800 Model S vehicles and 8,700 Model X cars in the third quarter, and an additional 5,500 cars were in transit to purchasers. The company called its delivery results “conservative” because Tesla counts a car has having been delivered only when a customer takes possession of the vehicle and all the paperwork with the delivery is verified as being correct. The cars in transit will be counted in the fourth quarter.
“The third-quarter delivery numbers are huge and validate that Tesla, indeed, had a large number of vehicles in transit at the end of the second quarter, which were registered in the third quarter,” said Michael Ramsey, an analyst who covers Tesla for research firm Gartner. “It will be interesting to see if Tesla can sustain deliveries at this level, given the high cost of the vehicles.”
Additionally, Tesla said it produced 25,185 vehicles in the third quarter, a 37 percent increase from the 18,345 cars it completed during the second quarter of the year. Tesla said it expects its fourth-quarter delivery and production figures “to be at or slightly above” its thirdquarter results, and it maintained its forecast of delivering 50,000 vehicles in the second half of the year.
Tesla shares climbed by $9.67 to end the day at $213.70, as investors reacted positively to the company’s announcement. For
“It will be interesting to see if Tesla can sustain deliveries at this level, given the high cost of the vehicles.” — Michael Ramsey, analyst, Gartner
the year, Tesla’s stock price has fallen by 11 percent.
Tesla also said it would be making some changes to how it reports financial results going forward. Beginning with its third-quarter results, the company will no longer include revenue excluding one-time items, and related financial data, involving vehicles leased through its banking partners or that include resale value guarantees.
Tesla’s delivery report comes as Chief Executive Elon Musk has been in the middle of a near-constant spate of activity this year involving the electric-car maker and his other business operations.
Musk, who is Tesla’s largest shareholder and owns about 20 percent of the company’s stock, is dealing with ongoing controversies involving Tesla vehicles’ Autopilot technology, and whether the self-driving technology played a role in two fatalities earlier this year. Musk is also spearheading Tesla’s proposed $2.6 billion acquisition of solar-panel technology company SolarCity — of which Musk also owns about 20 percent — and several lawsuits that are aimed at derailing that deal.
Tesla also recently sued the state of Michigan in an attempt to overturn a law that prohibits carmakers from selling their vehicles directly to consumers.
And in early September, a rocket from Musk’s SpaceX company exploded during a test on the launchpad at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The rocket was scheduled to include a satellite that Facebook would have used as part of its efforts to bring internet service to rural parts of Africa and other areas around the world.