Tesla Inc said on Friday that it delivered 139,300 vehicles in the third quarter, a quarterly record for the electric automaker.
The automaker beat consensus estimates by Refinitiv for deliveries of 134,720 vehicles, but fell short of some of Wall Street’s most bullish forecasts, with experts issuing a wide range of estimates.
Tesla made deliveries of 124,100 Model Y and Model 3 units, slightly below Refinitiv consensus expectations of 128,000 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles combined. Some experts had expected weaker U.S. demand for the mass-market Model 3 due to the release of the Model Y.
Including the third quarter, Tesla has delivered about 318,000 vehicles this year, putting the automaker under pressure to boost deliveries once more to almost 182,000 in the fourth quarter to reach its ambitious year-end target of half a million deliveries.
Tesla’s total production in the quarter increased by 76% to 145,036 vehicles compared with the earlier three-month period.
The company last quarter said production at its California plant has been increased to pre-coronavirus crisis levels after production at its core vehicle plant suspended from the end of March to early May because of the COVID-19 lockdown orders.
Tesla’s delivery push has been supported by its new Shanghai factory, the only plant currently producing vehicles outside California. Tesla started delivering Model 3s from its Shanghai factory in December and has said it wants to produce 150,000 Model 3 sedans in the factory annually and later 250,000 vehicles a year, including the Model Y.
Some 23,300 vehicles of Tesla were registered in China in the months of August and July, with data from September still to come.
Tesla is also building a new vehicle and battery manufacturing facility near Germany’s Berlin and seeks to start construction on a plant in Austin, Texas in the third quarter.
