Tesla fired back Thursday at a recent analyst report that’s been getting some media attention and alleges that Tesla Model 3 cancellations are currently outpacing orders.
According to a report from the investment bank Needham & Company, a quarter of orders for the mass-market electric car are canceled, and customers will have to wait four months to a year for existing variations of the car, or until 2020 for the base model. But Tesla tells Inverse that wait times for Model 3s are between one and three months, depending on which exact model you choose.
So how are Tesla Model 3 reservations going, really? A spokesperson for the company said net reservations for the Model 3 were hovering around 420,000 at the end of the second-quarter — a figure that includes cancellations. These numbers stem from a Q2 2018 Tesla production and delivery summary to investors.
Tesla Model 3.
Of all those reservations, Tesla says about 28,386 Model 3s have been delivered to date. The company also said it expects that when more Model 3s become available for test drives in Tesla stores — and upgrades like Model 3 Dual Motor All Wheel Drive arrive — order growth will begin to outpace production growth.
This latest note shows the scrutiny the company is under weeks ahead of its recently scheduled Q2 financial report and earnings call on August 1. Wall Street remains skeptical about Elon Musk’s promise to meet the demand for his all-electric sedan, but recent earnings reports have proved the bears wrong.
As Electrek noted, Rajvindra Gill who authored the Needham note has a good reputation, but also hasn’t issued a ton of recommendations on Tesla, either. Gill’s reported wait times also conflict with what the company told us and the times listed on its website.
Whether or not some Tesla bears — who have been known to chime in on Tesla earnings calls — will bring up the Needham report or not remains to be seen. But regardless, it’s sure to be a pivotal moment for the company in its mission to prove that producing mass-market electric cars can be not only good for the planet, but profitable as well.
