Elon Musk is actually known for being late in delivering many of his promises. This time, however, there was almost a spot landing for the Tesla boss at the end of the year. The US electric car maker delivered more vehicles in the fourth quarter than previously expected and still achieved its annual targets.
The target for the past year was 360,000 to 400,000 deliveries. It didn’t look like Tesla would create this brand for a long time. But the last quarter of 2019 went surprisingly well: In the three months to the end of December, 112,000 cars were brought to customers worldwide, as Tesla now announced in Palo Alto. The majority, with 92,550 units, was Tesla’s cheapest vehicle, the Model 3.
For the final sprint on New Year’s Eve, the company boss had also helped himself and handed over cars to their new owners at the Tesla plant in Freemont, California. Many customers wanted to take advantage of the tax benefits for electric cars that expired in the USA at the end of the year.
Around 1,000 cars are delivered every day
The company delivered around 367,500 vehicles throughout the past year. This increased Tesla by 50 percent compared to the previous year. Manufacturing also achieved a new record in the final quarter with almost 105,000 cars manufactured. Tesla’s shares rose noticeably before the stock market, analysts had expected significantly fewer deliveries.
“We continue to focus on expanding production in the United States and at our new plant in Shanghai,” said Tesla. The group had built the factory in China in less than a year and recently handed over the first Model 3 to employees there. The plant is expected to have a capacity of 500,000 cars a year, but initially it is likely to produce significantly less.
Tesla has high hopes for China, the largest car market in the world. Local importation can avoid high import duties. The carmaker is planning its first major European plant in Germany. The compact SUV Model Y is to be manufactured in Grünheide near Berlin from 2021. Construction on the 300-hectare site is scheduled to start in the first half of 2020.
Created: 04.01.2020, 01:26 PM
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