Tesla ramps up production but delivers fewer cars than expected

Tesla produced 18,345 cars in the second quarter of this year. Although that is twenty percent more than in the first quarter, fewer cars were delivered than expected by the manufacturer itself. Tesla plans to build another 50,000 cars in the second half of 2016.

Tesla released its production figures for the past quarter on Sunday. According to the manufacturer, production is increasing rapidly and slightly less than 2000 cars are being produced per week. As a result, almost half of the quarterly production took place in the last four weeks.

Of the 18,345 cars produced, Tesla was able to deliver 14,370 in the past quarter. It concerns 9,745 units of the Model S and 4,625 units of the Model X. The number of cars delivered is less than expected; the manufacturer previously forecast to deliver 17,000 cars in the quarter in question.

According to Tesla, the reason for the lower deliveries is that 5150 cars are still on their way to customers. The buyers of these Teslas can expect their cars at the beginning of the third quarter.

Tesla says production will increase to 2,200 cars per week in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter that should be 2400 cars per week. The automaker expects to deliver a total of 50,000 vehicles in the second half of the year, roughly the same as in all of 2015. However, that may not be enough to meet the 80,000 to 90,000 full-year deliveries previously forecast. .

Tesla’s goal is to be able to produce 500,000 cars per year from 2018. This will mainly concern copies of the affordable Model 3, of which 400,000 have already been pre-ordered. Tesla has not yet started production of the Model 3, which should make its way to customers from the end of 2017.

Tesla profiles itself as an innovative automaker and the company is already equipping models with a system for semi-autonomous driving, Autopilot. This system is under investigation by US authorities after a fatal accident.

Tesla Model X