The company produced 18,345 vehicles during the April-June period, a quarterly record, but many were produced so late in the quarter that it delivered only 14,402, which was short of its goal. The problem was primarily due to ramp-up issues with the newer Model X electric SUV which has been plagued by quality problems.
Advertisement
Palo Alto, California-based Tesla reported second-quarter loss of $293.2 million or $2.09 per share, wider than last year’s loss of $184.2 million or $1.45 per share.
The loss, excluding some items, was $1.06 a share, the company said in a letter to investors posted on its website Wednesday.
Analysts on average had expected a loss of 52 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. It was not immediately clear whether the numbers were comparable.
However, offsetting the increased revenue performance is the higher operating expenses of Tesla Motors, which was reported at $512.8 million compared with $383.6 million in last year’s second quarter.
It is the second consecutive quarter that Tesla has missed production targets, raising doubts about whether it will reach its full year goal.
Today, Tesla’s stock is down slightly by 0.621 percent to $225.79. Indeed, Tesla has essentially been constrained by production in every quarter since the Model S was launched in 2012, so a production-constrained second half of 2016 wouldn’t be anything new.
Tesla is slated to spend around US$2.25 billion in preparation for the Model 3, which Elon Musk hopes will go into production in July, 2017.
Given these mix trends for Tesla’s vehicle deliveries, it’s likely Model S and X deliveries will soon represent similar proportions of total deliveries – with about half going to S and half going to X.
Until then, the Tesla Model S 60 and 60D, have been drawing some customers off the Model 3 waitlist. The new vehicles, now dubbed the “Tesla Semi” and the “Tesla Minibus”, will be revealed within the next six to nine months, with Musk saying that mass production would begin “within low single digit years”. Musk said he expects strong demand for this vehicle in the range of 500,000 to 1 million units a year. This means we have at least 4-5 years of waiting to do. With 14,810 vehicles delivered in the first quarter, also less than its target, Tesla could end the year just shy of its original delivery target of 80,000 to 90,000 vehicles if it delivers 50,000 cars in the second half of 2016.
Tesla is now consistently manufacturing 2,000 vehicles in a week.
Advertisement
Musk, who is also chairman and a major shareholder in SolarCity, unveiled an updated “master plan” last month in which he sketched out a vision of an integrated carbon-free energy enterprise, offering electric vehicles, auto sharing and solar energy systems. The Country Caller provides detailed discussion on the upcoming earnings below.
