In a letter to shareholders Wednesday – and assuming there are no more unexpected delays – Tesla CEO Elon Musk made clear that the company intends to reveal the Model X all-electric crossover in September.
Advertisement
In an investor’s call, Tesla said it expects to ship 12,000 cars in the third quarter, with a small number of those being Model X. This is a 60 per cent increase in car’s shipped compared to Q3 2014. For Q1 and Q2, Tesla had already delivered about 21,600 vehicles, or about 39% of its forecast for 55,000.
Despite all the bullish news, Tesla also managed to burn through incredible amounts of money, with losses for the second quarter of 2015 standing at a whopping £118 million.
At speeds higher than that, however, while the screens went blank and the car’s electric drive disengaged, the Tesla continued to offer power steering to the driver, who could steer it safely to the roadside. Tesla does offer a reason for the decline (of sorts), saying that since the new Model X and the Model S will be built on the same production line, “Model X production challenges could slow Model S production”.
Tesla also spent more on research and development.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected a 60-cent-loss per share vs. EPS of 11 cents a year earlier, with revenue rising 35% to $1.16 billion.
Tesla Motors Inc. said today it has sent a software patch to address security flaws in the Tesla Model S sedan that could allow hackers to take control of the vehicle.
Tesla shares fell as much as 8 percent in after-hours trading Wednesday, before retracing some of those losses. Tesla has said that its stationary batteries have the potential to scale faster than vehicle sales. It was more than 33,000 cars short of that target, just as it prepares to roll out the second auto in its lineup, the Model X SUV. Trimming the delivery forecast is a short-term issue that has a positive side, as it reduces risks tied to a production ramp-up at the end of the year.
Advertisement
Tesla Motors estimated that it would be able to deliver around 50,000 to 55,000 vehicles (Model S and Model X) this year.
