Tesla Vehicle Deliveries Hit Another Record in Q3 2021

Tesla said on Saturday it had delivered a record electric cars in the third quarter, beating Wall Street estimates after Chief Executive Elon Musk asked staff to "go super hardcore" to make a quarter-end delivery push.

Tesla has weathered the chip crisis better than rivals, with its overall deliveries surging 20 percent in the July to September period from its previous record in the second quarter, marking the sixth consecutive quarter-on-quarter gains. .

In China, rising exports to Europe and the introduction of a cheaper Model Y helped boost Tesla's production, analysts said.

Musk said Tesla suffered an extremely severe parts shortage earlier in the third quarter and had urged employees to make quarter-end delivery push, Reuters reported last month, citing an internal company email.

"The end of quarter delivery wave is unusually high this time," he said in the email.

Tesla delivered 241,300 vehicles globally in the July to September quarter, up 73 percent from a year earlier. Analysts had expected the electric-car maker to deliver 229,242 vehicles, according to Refinitiv data.

General Motors, Honda, and some of its bigger rivals posted declines in US sales in the third quarter, hit by a prolonged chip shortage. GM's third-quarter US sales fell nearly 33 percent to its lowest level in more than a decade.

Tesla said it delivered 232,025 of its Model 3 compact cars and Model Y sport-utility vehicles and 9,275 of its flagship Model S and Model X cars to customers in the quarter.

Total production in the third quarter rose over 15 percent to 237,823 vehicles from the prior quarter.

China

Gary Black, portfolio manager at the Future Fund and a Tesla bull, said that Tesla's deliveries were driven by record deliveries in China, which was "putting to rest any notion China demand is slowing."

Tesla faces scrutiny from both regulators and the public and growing competition from local rivals.

Tesla has not released its September China sales yet, and in August, its Shanghai factory exported more than two thirds of its vehicles to Europe and Asian countries.

© Thomson Reuters 2021