Tesla posts bigger-than-expected loss, bigger-than-expected revenue [Updated]
“There could be a force majeure, like an earthquake or a mass recession, but absent of that… ” Tesla would be able to hit its numbers, Musk said.
Those production numbers
Although the dollar signs on Tesla’s Q2 2018 financial statement offered no overwhelming reason to celebrate, investors have apparently been heartened by Tesla’s production numbers. Last week, the financial statement said, Tesla pushed 7,000 vehicles—Models S, X, and 3—out to customers from its Fremont, California, factory. This happened in July “several times,” according to the company, with 5,000 Model 3 vehicles and 2,000 Models S and X.
Tesla has projected a number of times throughout Q3 that it will produce 6,000 Model 3 vehicles per week, all “while keeping additional capex [capital expenditure] limited.” That’s important to investors who have seen the company burn through cash during the Model 3 ramp-up and are impatient to see some return from the rapidly growing company. In Q3, Tesla expects to produce 50,000 to 53,000 Model 3s total.
The financial statement added that Tesla would be able to produce 10,000 Model 3s some time next year.
Still, one criticism of these Model 3 numbers is that Tesla is not producing the low-cost Model 3s that were promised years ago. Thus far, the Model 3s that have been delivered have been $49,000 or $79,000 performance versions with longer batteries or all-wheel drive. The $35,000 vehicle that the Model 3 was supposed to be has still not arrived.
However, the premium Model 3s seem to be selling well. Musk said that, since the Model 3 configurator was opened in July, about half of all orders placed have been for dual-motor, all-wheel-drive vehicles. “We don’t want to say this is assumed to be a continued thing,” Musk said on the call. “It’s just the thing we’re seeing now.”
The Chinese Gigafactory
In July, Tesla announced that it would build a massive 500,000-car Gigafactory in Shanghai. On today’s call, Musk said that his company didn’t intend to raise any more money through equity and, instead, would finance the factory with local loans from Chinese banks.