DETROIT Electric vehicle maker Tesla Motors Inc. ended its turbulent second quarter with a larger-than-expected loss, but said it remains on track to increase production in the second half of this year and introduce a new auto in 2017.
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For the three months that ended June, the California-based company reported a net loss of $293.2 million, or $2.09 per share, which widen from $184.2 million, or $1.45 per share, a year earlier.
“Vehicle production efficiency is improving rapidly and we are now increasing our weekly production rate even further”, Mr Musk said.
The company’s share price was down 0.62 per cent at the time of writing in after-hours trading, to $225.79. Tesla executives are not wavering on yearly targets, despite a slower than expected quarter. In the interim, Musk also spoke about the merger of both his companies, Tesla Motors and Solar City, in his master plan.
“We were in production hell for the first six months of this year”, Musk admitted on a conference call with analysts, referring to snafus that included problems with the Model X’s fancy, futuristic “falcon wing” doors.
Only yesterday we reported on Tesla’s plan to acquire SolarCity, a solar-panel supplier that Elon Musk now acts as chairman for a reported $2.6 billion.
Tesla Motors has reached a milestone with the development of the 2018 Tesla Model 3 affordable electric vehicle, according to its second-quarter update released on Wednesday.
Tesla, the company headed by Elon Musk who is known for his vision, ambition, and innovation is yet to make money despite continuously making headlines for coming up with path breaking technologies and heavy investments. It expects to raise that figure to 2,400 weekly in an effort to ship between 80,000 to 90,000 vehicles this year. Revenues rose 33% on the previous year to $1.27bn, but operating expenses were 34% higher than in 2015. In June, a Tesla Model S collided with a truck while Autopilot was engaged-the first recorded death in a semi-autonomous vehicle. Crossovers are in vogue, and should continue to grow more popular in the foreseeable future, so that estimate is within reason.
Tesla noted that its Gigafactory construction “remains on target to support volume production of Model 3 in late 2017”.
Tesla delivered 14,402 vehicles in the second quarter, below its goal of 17,000. “And now our production line is humming”.
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Federal regulators recently launched a probe into a crash that killed a Tesla Model S driver in May. Musk said he “burned out a few neurons” trying to hit those targets.
