Tesla's Brutal Month Capped Off With Missed Model S And Model X EV Delivery Targets
Tesla can’t seem to catch a break. On Sunday the company revealed that it had only delivered 14,370 out of the promised 17,000 cars for the second quarter of 2016.
Tesla was simply unable to ship out all of the cars in time. The company remarked:
Due to the extreme production ramp in Q2 and the high mix of customer-ordered vehicles still on trucks and ships at the end of the quarter, Tesla Q2 deliveries were lower than anticipated...In total, 5,150 customer-ordered vehicles were still in transit at the end of the quarter and will be delivered in early Q3
Last quarter, Tesla did not have enough of the parts needed to build the Model X. The company was out of the necessary supplies for two months and was only able to deliver 14,820 of a promised 16,000 cars. Despite all of these setbacks, Tesla stated that it expects to produce 50,000 cars in the second half of 2016, roughly its entire production run for all of 2015.
Last month, the company made an offer to buy solar energy firm SolarCity. SolarCity is actually a company Tesla owner Elon Musk co-founded and sits on the board for. The two companies have already collaborated on a number of projects, including lithium-ion battery packs in some solar projects. Wall Street however, was not a fan of the deal. A high-profile bankruptcy and a slowdown in panel leasing left a bitter taste for solar energy investors. They pummel Tesla’ stock prices.
This past Thursday the company announced that a federal investigation was underway for the self-driving feature of its Model S. A man recently died while engaged in Autopilot. A tractor trailer that was initially traveling in the opposite direction made a left turn perpendicularly in front of the Tesla car. According to Tesla, “neither Autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied.” This incident could make investors and potential buyers wary.
Maybe the SpaceX launch on July 18th will turn Musk’s frown upside down.
