Tesla Motors, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and sells electric vehicles and stationary energy storage products in the United States, China, Norway, and internationally.
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The release date for Tesla Model 3 has been announced to be next year, but the pre-orders have already started coming to the tune of a quarter of a million units. In comparison, the deliveries of Model S luxury electric sedans had touched 12,420 in the same quarter.
Model X deliveries were up significantly from the 208 units recorded in Q4 2015, but Tesla says it could have done better.
The parts shortage appears to be “one-time” in nature, according to Pacific Crest, but “it highlights the difficulty of ramping a new vehicle, which could carry risk to delivering the Model 3 on time and within budget”. The company was only able to ship 2,400 units of the Model X in the previous quarter and in a statement, Tesla blames its own “hubris” for the delay.
“The parts in question were only half a dozen out of more than 8,000 unique parts, nonetheless missing even one part means a vehicle can not be delivered”, the statement from Tesla reads as per the publication.
The Model 3 will be the third major auto in Tesla’s fleet.
It said that once “issues were resolved”, production and delivery rates “improved dramatically”.
“The Q1 delivery count was impacted by severe Model X supplier parts shortages in January and February that lasted much longer than initially expected”, Tesla said. To his credit, Elon Musk has admitted the company may have overreached when it came to designing and building the Model X. Musk is a person who does not accept that something can not be done.
Much of any additional cash raised this year will be needed for Tesla’s new US factories, as well as for further product development, Johnson said.
Edmunds says: Something of a reality check for Tesla after the giddiness of the Model 3 introduction.
Tesla said it would fix the root problems before the Model 3 launch. The company hopes to approach about 1,000 Model X’s a week during the second quarter.
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