• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Tesla third quarter deliveries miss company’s 100,000 forecast

Tesla third quarter deliveries miss company’s 100,000 forecast

Tesla delivered “approximately 97,000” cars in the third quarter, slightly missing Wall Street estimates and falling short of the 100,000 milestone the company had hoped for.

The Fremont, California-based electric vehicle pioneer said Wednesday it had produced 96,155 cars and delivered about 97,000 from July to September, a touch short of analyst estimates for 97,400 deliveries in a Refinitiv survey.

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Last week chief executive Elon Musk told employees the company has “a shot at achieving our first 100,000 vehicle delivery quarter, which is an incredibly exciting milestone for our company.”

Tesla, the first major American car company to emerge since Chrysler in 1925, since it achieved “record new orders” in the quarter and was experiencing “strong organic demand.”

The vast bulk of the vehicles were its Model 3, which accounted for 79,600 of the vehicles, whereas the Models X and S vehicles made up 17,400 of the total. Analysts have worried Tesla’s revenue could suffer, even as deliveries rise, based on the mix of cars it is selling.

In after-market trading, shares were down 3.9 per cent at $233.74, trimming earlier declines that topped 6 per cent. As of Wednesday, Tesla shares were down 22 per cent year-to-date. It is valued at $43bn, which is $6bn behind GM but around $9bn more than Ford.

“We continue to believe the biggest overhang around the story is Tesla’s ability to hit its overall unit guidance for 2019 of 360,000 to 400,000 units,” Dan Ives, Wedbush analyst, told clients in a note last week. He called it a “Herculean-like task,” saying fewer than 350,000 cars delivered this year was more plausible.