KhodroCar - A period of time in which the automaker has been desperately trying to ramp up production of its new Model 3 after experiencing a battery manufacturing bottleneck and missing its delivery targets in the previous quarter. Well, the time for guessing is over, for now.
The magic numbers for the last three months of 2017 are thus:
Tesla Model S – 15,200
Tesla Model X – 13,120
Tesla Model 3 – 1,550
Total Q4 deliveries: 29,870
For the electric automaker, the result is their best quarter to date, even without the Model 3 component, and is a 27% increase over Q4 2016. It also marks an increase of 9% over last quarter.
For the year, total production amounted to 101,312 vehicles, a 33% improvement over 2016’s production.
As usual, Tesla was left with some vehicles built, but not yet delivered that will go towards the first quarter of 2018’s numbers. Lumped together, that number for the Model S and Model X is 2,520, while 860 Model 3 sedans were left awaiting delivery to their new homes. That’s certainly a lot fewer than at least one analyst had predicted.
Speaking of Model 3, it seems like that although the bottleneck has been eased, production targets have been pushed back somewhat. Previously, CEO Elon Musk had said the production rate of this important new car would reach 5,000 per week by the end of Q1 2018. Now, Tesla has pushed that ramp back to the end of the 2nd quarter.
As of the last week of December, the company says it only managed to build 793 examples of its smallest offering, though finds a silver lining, pointing out that the production rate at the end of the quarter had reached 1,000 per week. Since it can talk up the rate of production, the statement from the company (below) brings up its "focus” on "quality and efficiency rather than simply pushing for the highest possible volume in the shortest period of time.” Certainly, no one can say that Tesla doesn’t need to make improvements in quality, as the same could be said for any company, really. But, there is no doubt that this flattening of the "S curve” will disappoint waiting customers and investors.
Source: insideevs.com