Tesla delivered more than 10,000 vehicles in the first quarter of this year: a new record.
Tesla set a new quarterly record for vehicle deliveries with a better-than-expected 10,030 in the first quarter this year. The total represents a 55% jump over the year-ago results.
Tesla sold 9,834 vehicles in the fourth quarter of last year, up from 7,785 in the third quarter of 2014.
Unlike most automakers, Tesla doesn’t report deliveries monthly, believing it’s not an accurate measure of the company’s success. However, it did announce it will begin announcing its quarterly results within three days of the end of the quarter.
“We have decided to take this approach, because inaccurate sources of information are sometimes used by others to project the number of vehicle deliveries,” the company said in statement.
“There may be small changes to this delivery count (usually well under 1%), as Tesla only counts a delivery if it is transferred to the end customer and all paperwork is correct.”
Some analysts and publications estimate monthly sales results based off the numbers, but the variability in the company’s deliveries has occasionally resulted in poor estimates.
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The delivery announcement comes shortly after the company’s founder, Elon Musk, said he would be making an announcement about a new product on April 30. After a lot of fuss was generated, he revealed it would not be a new car.
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Musk said in February that Tesla would soon unveil a home battery that would be ready to go into production in about six months.
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Tesla has projected 2015 sales of 55,000, inclusive of the Model S sedan and the Model X SUV that’s scheduled to launch later this year. Last year, Tesla hit its production target of 33,000 (revised down from 35,000), but slipped on deliveries, some of which were pushed to early 2015.
I think Tesla’s creative accounting is causing them problems.
I think Tesla’s NOT reporting sales monthly like everyone else is ridiculous. 2000+ vehicles a month is significant enough. And their explanation of “we don’t release sales numbers because you just wouldn’t understand them” is hubristic.