From the report, it is clear that Tesla is attracting a lot of money through sales, but is also burning through cash at an alarming rat.
Tesla’s current flagship product is the Model 3 sedan, which was revealed in 2016. Since its reveal, the car’s production has run into multiple problems, including cost overruns and production delays. The first batch of the sedans – with 30 vehicles – was delivered in July 2017, and Tesla was able to make a total of 1,764 deliveries in 2017. In its report, Tesla stated that it had managed to produce more than 2,000 vehicles per week for three straight weeks, and expressed a positive outlook for the vehicle’s future production, despite recent issues with automation.
In a letter to investors and shareholders accompanying the report, Tesla Founder and CEO Elon Musk wrote, “Even at this stage of the ramp, Model 3 is already on the cusp of becoming the best-selling mid-sized premium sedan in the US, and our deliveries continue to increase. Consumers have clearly shown that electric vehicles are simply more desirable when priced on par with their internal combustion engine competitors while offering better technology, performance, and user experience.” Elon also added that following previous cycles, Tesla plans to shut its production plant for the Model 3 for some scheduled downtime in Q2 2018. The company has previously used its breaks to analyse the production line and to make it more efficient.
While the Model 3 usually grabs most of the headlines about Tesla’s product line, Elon was also quick to point out that the company’s Model S and Model X vehicles also continue to see high demand. Tesla produced 24,728 Model S and Model X vehicles in Q1 2018, delivering 21,815 of them. The company expects production numbers to stay around the same level for Q2 2018 but said it aims to ramp up production in Q3 2018 to meet its avowed target of 100,000 deliveries by the end of 2018.
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