Tesla has released the production numbers for the first quarter of 2018 making their new Model 3 the best-selling electric car in the U.S. The company has delivered 8,180 Model 3 cars in the first three months of the year beating 6,468 deliveries of Toyota’s Prius Prime and 4,375 of General Motor’s Chevy Bolt.
These numbers seem to present a silver lining for the electric car company that has recently been surrounded by financial troubles. Tesla is seemingly young in manufacturing vehicles as compared to its counterparts that have been in the automotive manufacturing business for decades. Therefore, the numbers are no small achievement for Tesla. However, the company has yet to prove whether it can sustain and build upon the peak weekly production rates it just revealed in the quarterly report. The skepticism comes after it was widely suggested that Tesla exaggerated the number of its production capability at the end of previous year.
The fourth-quarter numbers for 2017 indicated that Tesla experienced a miserable production start, however, it later achieved a production rate of manufacturing 793 Model 3 cars in the last seven working days and 1,000 vehicles altogether in a week leading to the end of the quarter. However, a model developed by Bloomberg Technology indicated that Tesla was unable to sustain the production 793 cars a week until mid-February 2018 and did not hit 1,000 cars a week until mid-March. Therefore, investors are yet to be convinced about the production sustainability of Tesla.
However, achieving the production of 2,000 vehicles per week can help Tesla cope up with the pessimism surrounding its production capabilities. Tesla has indicated that the forecast for second-quarter of 2018 has eased their cash concerns and they shall not be requiring fundraising for this year. All focused to meet its production targets, the automotive company has now experienced a 6.9 percent rise in stock after hitting the lowest stock rate since 2016.
