Yahoo Autos Tesla Hits Record Quarterly Sales, but Profit Is Still Unlikely
EV maker Tesla sold a record number of cars last quarter, the automaker reported today, an accomplishment given the company's struggles with quality control and production bottlenecks for its Model 3 sedan.
In the third quarter alone, Tesla said it sold 83,500 cars worldwide, including 55,840 Model 3 sedans, 14,470 Model S sedans, and 13,190 Model X crossovers. In 2017, Tesla reached a milestone of 101,312 cars. The third-quarter sales figure was not only its highest amount since the second quarter of 2018, but it also topped the company’s annual sales for every year through 2016, when it hit 76,230 cars.
Despite customers' reports of mismatched paint, poor fit, and entire bumpers falling off, Tesla nonetheless is outselling electric vehicles from all mainstream automakers. By contrast, through September Nissan moved 10,686 Leaf cars and General Motors sold 11,807 Chevrolet Bolt EV models. Sales from competing luxury automakers, such as BMW's for its i3, are but a fraction of those two cars.
The news conveniently arrives within a couple of days since the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission levied two $20 million fines, one each against Tesla and its CEO, Elon Musk, who settled fraud charges with the agency and is now barred from his chairman post for three years. Tesla still has never made an annual profit, and its forthcoming quarterly report is likely to report more losses even as demand for the Model 3-with hundreds of thousands of buyers reportedly still waiting-continues. The Model 3’s base version, which is supposed to deliver 220 miles of estimated range at $35,000, has yet to be built. Tesla is also facing heavy China-import tariffs of 40 percent, which it says will hamper sales until it finishes a new plant in Shanghai. Musk has been silent on Twitter since Monday.
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