Its bid to buy rooftop solar power company SolarCity has been questioned by investors, and over the U.S. July 4 holiday weekend, it disclosed that second-quarter vehicle production missed company targets.
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Tesla also lowered its estimate of deliveries in the second half of the year, to 50,000, meaning its full-year deliveries would fall short of the 80,000 to 90,000 vehicles it forecast in April. At least 70,000 Tesla vehicles worldwide have the Autopilot feature, and the fatal crash has drawn renewed attention to the debate over what kind of guidelines the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration should set regarding semi-autonomous and self-driving cars on United States roads.
Joshua D. Brown of Canton, Ohio, died in the accident May 7 in Williston, Florida, when his Tesla Model S failed to automatically activate its brakes and crashed into a tractor-trailer.
Tesla also knew about the deadly crash involving its Model S sedan before a $2 billion stock offering, Reuters noted.
During the first six months of this year, Tesla has delivered 29,190 cars.
Elon Musk is digging in his heels in defending Tesla’s autopilot feature on its Model S cars.
Following the first case of Tesla vehicle fatality while on Autopilot, Tesla issued a statement urging its drivers to keep their hands on the wheel at all times even when the Autopilot is engaged. The automaker counts a vehicle delivered only if it is completely transferred to buyer and all paper work is correct.
Though the second quarter delivery results are unsatisfactory and will reflect poorly on Tesla’s second quarter earnings, it’s not all bad for the automaker.
In the past three months, Tesla stock has fallen 13 percent to $216.50.
CEO Musk said in May that his company is aiming to build a total of 500,000 all-electric vehicles in 2018, and that its 2020 volume target was close to 1m vehicles.
With the continued productivity improvements, the company anticipates output to reach 2,200 vehicles per week in the next quarter and 2,400 cars in the last quarter this year.
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Tesla noted that while it had delivered fewer than 15,000 cars, it had produced 18,345, with more than 5,000 vehicles still in transit to customers.
