Tesla announced disappointing first-quarter delivery figures, a performance it says will negatively impact income.
Late Wednesday, Tesla said it delivered about 63,000 cars in Q1, versus analyst estimates of 76,000 deliveries. That’s down from 90,966 in the fourth quarter. Model 3 deliveries totaled 50,900, also below estimates. Tesla said it produced about 77,100 cars during the quarter.
“Because of the lower than expected delivery volumes and several pricing adjustments, we expect Q1 net income to be negatively impacted,” Tesla said in a release.
The company said complications during the rollout of the Model 3 internationally impacted its numbers.
“Due to a massive increase in deliveries in Europe and China, which at times exceeded 5x that of prior peak delivery levels, and many challenges encountered for the first time, we had only delivered half of the entire quarter’s numbers by March 21, ten days before end of quarter,” Tesla said in a release. “This caused a large number of vehicle deliveries to shift to the second quarter. At the end of the first quarter, approximately 10,600 vehicles were in transit to customers globally.”
The company noted that Model 3 was the best-selling mid-sized premium sedan in North America, selling 60% more units than the runner up. The company reaffirmed prior guidance of 360,000 to 400,000 vehicle deliveries in 2019.
“Despite pull forward of demand from Q1 2019 into Q4 2018 due to the step down in the federal tax credit, US orders for Model 3 vehicles significantly outpaced what we were able to deliver in Q1,” Tesla said.
See Tesla’s letter to investors here.