Tesla aiming for record number of deliveries in Q2

It seems that Tesla may be having a new record quarter in vehicle deliveries. As Elon Musk wrote in an e-mail to employees, there is a good chance that the current quarter will see 90,700 deliveries exceed the record level reached in the fourth quarter of 2018.

Model 3 is expected to set the new record. To achieve this, however, Tesla must make a constant 1,000 Model 3 per day. According to Musk, Tesla produced an average of around 900 units per day this week in Fremont.

With regard to the development of deliveries and production figures, continuous growth is evident. The Californian company made an enormous leap from the second to the third quarter of last year when Model 3 deliveries increased from 18,440 units to 55,840 units in Q3/2018. In Q4, Tesla the delivered 63,150 Model 3. The S and X models each delivered 22,300 (Q2/2018), 27,660 (Q3/2018) and 27,550 (Q4/2018) units respectively, making it a record quarter thanks to production bottlenecks finally having been sorted.

More or less one must say as Q1/2019, did see figures fall. Tesla delivered a total of around 63,000 vehicles across all models and said during the earnings call that this was due for many deliveries having been pushed back to Q2.

After two quarterly profits, the bottom line in the first quarter of this year was in minus again. With sales of $4.5 billion, the company was unable to match the record figures of the previous quarters ($6.8 billion and $7.2 billion). Tesla CEO Elon Musk also expects a loss in the second quarter. However, he wants to significantly increase deliveries (and count those leftovers from Q1) and set said new record. For the year as a whole, Tesla is aiming for a figure of 360,000 to 400,000 deliveries – and expecting corresponding profits again in the third and fourth quarters of 2019.

Meanwhile, the first pictures from the interior of Tesla’s Gigafactory 3, currently under construction in Shanghai, are coming from China. The factory appears to be making great strides. Meanwhile, the Californian company is also looking for employees for the China plant and will hold a job fair in Shanghai on 29 May.

As is well known, the first production lines are to go into operation at the end of the year. The Tesla-Gigafactory 3 will not only produce batteries but also complete electric cars. Tesla officially laid the foundation stone for the factory at the beginning of January. If it is completed on time, this could clearly help to achieve the target of 400,000 deliveries in 2019.

electrek.co (deliveries), electrek.co (Gigafactory 3), gasgoo.com (career)

Additional reporting by Nora Manthey.