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Tesla defies skeptics and sets a new record for deliveries in 2019

Published Jan 3rd, 2020 6:04PM EST
Tesla Model 3
Image: Ena/AP/REX/Shutterstock

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2019 may very well have been a watershed year for Tesla. Not only did the company prove that it can consistently turn a profit, the company actually managed to meet its delivery goal for the year. While this may not seem like a big deal on its face, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has a long history of making ambitious production and sales projections that often come up way short. In 2019, however, Tesla delivered and proved any number of skeptics wrong.

Earlier today, Tesla released its delivery figures for the fourth quarter and revealed that it delivered a record-breaking 112,000 vehicles for the quarter, representing a 15,000 increase from the previous quarter. What’s more, Tesla for the quarter manufactured 104,891 vehicles. Notably, Tesla’s production and delivery figures handily beat estimates from Wall Street analysts.

Not surprisingly, the Model 3 was the best-selling Tesla vehicle for the quarter, with the mass market EV accounting for nearly 83% of deliveries.

For the entire year, Tesla managed to deliver 367,500 vehicles. To put this figure into context, Tesla in 2018 and 2017 delivered 182,400 and 48,000 vehicles, respectively. In short, Tesla sales are booming. Equally as important, Tesla appears to finally have a handle on Model 3 production after experiencing some notable production bottlenecks early on.

“We continue to focus on expanding production in both the US as well as our newly launched facility in Shanghai,” Tesla said in a press release.

“Despite breaking ground at Gigafactory Shanghai less than 12 months ago, we have already produced just under 1,000 customer salable cars and have begun deliveries,” Tesla adds. “We have also demonstrated production run-rate capability of greater than 3,000 units per week, excluding local battery pack production which began in late December.”

Incidentally, shares of Tesla have continued to rise steadily over the past few weeks. With news of Tesla’s impressive quarter, shares of the company shot up nearly 15 points in trading early on Friday.

Yoni Heisler Contributing Writer

Yoni Heisler has been writing about Apple and the tech industry at large with over 15 years of experience. A life long expert Mac user and Apple expert, his writing has appeared in Edible Apple, Network World, MacLife, Macworld UK, and TUAW.

When not analyzing the latest happenings with Apple, Yoni enjoys catching Improv shows in Chicago, playing soccer, and cultivating new TV show addictions.