Production builds at Tesla

Tesla cars on a parking lot in Lelystad, Netherlands. © iStock.

The time when Tesla reliably missed its production targets seems to be well in the past. Indeed, Elon Musk’s company has set new production and delivery records for the third quarter of 2019, with 96,155 vehicles built and 97,000 delivered (95,200 in Q2). The figures, released last Wednesday, also show a drop in the sales of the more expensive Model S and X, while deliveries of the more affordable Model 3 keep climbing, with 79,600 vehicles delivered in Q3, against 77,550 in Q2. This implies a production rate of over 6,000 vehicles per week. But Tesla still has a long road before reaching its overall year’s target, which is to deliver 360,000 vehicles in 2019. Tesla has already delivered 255,200 vehicles, meaning it will have to deliver 104,800 more during Q4. This may not be too far a reach, since in October, Tesla is due to start production in its new Shanghai factory.

⇨ Ars Technica, Timothy B. Lee, “Tesla produced a record-breaking 96,155 cars last quarter.”