Tesla has stated, via the Tesla Q4 Vehicle Production and Deliveries report; ” In the last few days, we hit a production rate on each of our manufacturing lines that extrapolates to over 1,000 Model 3’s per week.” This is obviously indicative of Tesla slowly pulling out of Production Hell and manufacturing over 4,000 Model 3’s per month.
Wall Street was largely mixed on the news with the pessimistic Bears voicing concern over the lack of Model 3 deliveries impeding cash flow. However, the optimistic Bulls cheered the increased numbers as a clear indication the worst of Production Hell is over, resulting in greater cash flow for the company.
Deliveries for Model S in Q4 were 15,200 and 13,120 for Model X. Tesla indicated this was their all-time best quarter for combined Model S and X deliveries, representing a 27% increase over Q4 2016, and a 9% increase over Q3 2017. Overall, Tesla delivered 101,312 Model S and X vehicles in 2017. This was a 33% increase over 2016.
Tesla is very conservative in their production reporting, emphasizing they only count a car as delivered, if it is transferred to the customer and all paperwork is correct.
These numbers will no doubt make Tesla fans smile, recalling certain criticisms from competitors in the past, that Tesla was more of a boutique automaker incapable of mass production. The numbers clearly prove, that is not the case.
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