Despite Increased Production, Tesla Fails to Meet Q2 Estimates

Tesla released the figures for how many cars the company shipped out in its second quarter, and the numbers are disappointing. Out of an estimated 17,000 Tesla car deliveries for Q2, Tesla only manged to ship 14,370 of them. Broken down further, Tesla shipped 9,745 Model S and 4,625 Model X cars for the quarter.

That number is far below what the company projected to deliver in its Q2, which might explain why the company released these figures over the holiday weekend so as to move quickly past the news. As noted by The Verge, however, these numbers don’t necessarily signify bad news for the ambitious company.

Tesla also announced that it finished the quarter producing under 2,000 vehicles a week. If those production numbers hold up, then the company is on course to deliver 50,000 vehicles in the second half of the year. For reference, Tesla shipped about 50,000 vehicles in all of 2015.

Tesla also hopes to up production numbers to 2,200 vehicles per week for the third quarter, and 2,400 vehicles in quarter four. The company also mentions that there are still 5,150 “customer-ordered vehicles” in transit on ships and trucks by the end of Q2. Those vehicles will be delivered early Q3. That figure is higher than what Tesla expected and is a marked increase over the 2,615 vehicles in transit to customers by the end of Q1.

While Tesla failed to meet shipping goals in the face of higher-than-expected demand, the ramping production of Tesla vehicles should be a good sign moving forward. While it’s unlikely the company will deliver its expected goal of 80,000 - 90,000 vehicles for 2016, the company should be in a good position when the Model 3 ships next year.