Tesla faces delivery struggles ahead of Q2 close

26 Jun 2019

Tesla Tesla Inc. shares were down 1.7% on Tuesday, following news that the company’s electric car deliveries in North America contracted during the second quarter. 

According to news website Electrek, the California-based automotive and energy firm reported 49,000 deliveries in North America during the April-June period, as its target for a new record is at risk of not being reached.  

Last month, Chief Executive Office Elon Musk announced that the electric-car maker was on track to distribute a record number of vehicles during Q2 of this year, surpassing the 90,700 delivered to its clients in the last quarter of 2018.

Citing a leaked email, Bloomberg reported that on Tuesday, Musk repeated the fact that the firm has enough orders to hit its quarterly record for electric car deliveries.

“We believe we will deliver between 90,000 and 100,000 vehicles in Q2. Although it is possible to deliver a higher number of vehicles, we believe it is important to begin unwinding the ‘wave’ approach to vehicle deliveries, where overseas cars have been made in the first half of the quarter and North American cars have been made in the second half. This puts extreme stress on Tesla, negatively affects our working capital needs and adds to our cost structure,” said Musk in its first-quarter 2019 update to shareholders, according to CNBC. 

Regarding international markets for the second quarter, Electrek did not reveal any delivery figure. 

The report published by the news website noted that when international market numbers are added, particularly in places like Norway and China, Tesla will move closer to reaching its new record. 

 

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