Deliveries of 14,370 vehicles trailed a projection of about 17,000, after an “extreme production ramp” came too late in the quarter to get the cars to their buyers, Tesla said Sunday. But it had estimated it would produce 20,000. Due to the steep production ramp, nearly half of the quarter’s production occurred in the final four weeks.
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Tesla said that it has a record number (5,150) of vehicles now in transit and it’s likely that a few of those are Model S’s going to Norway, but it’s still doubtful that it would represent a big difference on the important drop in deliveries.
The crash follows last week’s report that federal safety regulators are investigating the design of the Tesla Autopilot system following the death of an OH man who died in Florida when his Tesla hit a tractor-trailer while in self-driving mode.
Last week, Tesla drew scrutiny as details emerged about the death of a driver using the semi-autonomous mode of a Tesla S, a luxury model.
The electric auto maker on Sunday said it delivered 14,370 vehicles in Q2, below its guidance of 17,000. The public didn’t find out about that incident until June 30, and in between that time Tesla CEO Elon Musk sold billion worth of Tesla stock at a public offering.
It’s the second quarter in a row that the Palo Alto company has missed its delivery forecast.
Tesla shares fell as much as 4 percent on the first trading day after the accident was disclosed but then ended the day up 2 percent.
Tesla ended the quarter with production levels at just under 2,200 vehicles per week and expects to boost that to 2,200 a week in Q3 and 2,400 in Q4.
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The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is now investigating 25,000 Model S sedans that are equipped with the autopilot system. The luxury electric carmaker has fallen short of shipment targets for the second straight quarter, raising further questions of the manufacturer’s ability to meet production demands of its pending Model 3.
