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Tesla Delivered Over 76,000 Vehicles In 2016, Falling Slightly Short of Goal (theverge.com)
Tesla delivered 76,230 electric vehicles in 2016, falling just shy of its goal of delivering 80,000 cars for the year. The electric carmaker claimed that "short-term production challenges" starting at the end of October were to blame for the shipment of fewer vehicles than anticipated. The Verge reports: Tesla said the transition to new Autopilot hardware resulted in the company's vehicle production being "weighted more heavily towards the end of the quarter than we had originally planned." In total, about 2,750 Tesla vehicles missed being counted as deliveries in the fourth quarter of 2016, which the company ascribes to "last-minute delays in transport or because the customer was unable to physically take delivery." Tesla said that even though those sales were counted toward 2016, the deliveries were not because the customers did not physically take possession of their cars. Tesla says about 6,450 vehicles are still in transit, and that their deliveries will be counted toward the first quarter of 2017. While it fell short on delivery, Tesla was able to beat its production rate for 2015. Tesla said it produced 24,882 vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2016, resulting in a total of 83,922 vehicles produced in 2016. This was an increase of 64 percent from 2015. Vehicle demand in Q4 was particularly strong, Tesla says. Net orders for Model S and X, which were an all-time record, were 52 percent higher than Q4 2015 and 24 percent higher than the company's previous record quarter in Q3 2016. "We were ultimately able to recover and hit our production goal, but the delay in production resulted in challenges that impacted quarterly deliveries, including, among other things, cars missing shipping cutoffs for Europe and Asia," the company says. "Although we tried to recover these deliveries and expedite others by the end of the quarter, time ran out before we could deliver all customer cars."
Are they yet making a profit on each sold?
Very likely but how much is uncertain and their infrastructure spending on growth means they'll bleed quite a bit of red ink for a few years yet.
But they do need to get that under control, especially by improving the build quality and making cars that are easier to assemble & repair.
Pain is merely failure leaving the body
I am not a hater of EV technology but if your going to really make a dent you can't cater to the 1%. The people who could really benefit from EV technology are not the 1% it's the rest of us. Is Tesla trying to serve everyone? Or just a few? When Henry Ford made history he was making a vehicle for the masses.
The Ford Motor Company was founded in 1903. The first mass market car was the Model T in 1908. Before T there was A, S and K that was their "Roadster", "Model S" and "Model X". It's just that hardly anyone remembers, because T became the famous one. If the giga-factory and "Model 3" pays off and sells millions, it'll be straight out of the same playbook.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
There are hundreds of thousands of cars selling in that segment (high-end Porsches, Mercedes Benz, BMW, etc.). I can only think of one that seats 5 comfortably and does 0-60 in 2.5s...and that's why Tesla is cleaning up in that segment.
^This. I only have an anecdotal data point: I've spent a few days in Hong Kong and was amazed at how common the Model S is there. Residents there don't need to drive far, enjoy not having to pay for fuel, but definitely want something further up-market than a typical hybrid like a Prius so they can park next to their friend's/coworker's German luxo-barge without being embarrassed. The city is flush with money, so in an environment where basically price is no object it was nice to see so many people had chosen an American-made status symbol.