Tesla vehicles waiting to be loaded on board a cargo vessel at Nangang port, in Shanghai, China, on Sept. 6, 2023.
Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty Images
Tesla posted its third-quarter vehicle production and delivery report for 2023 on Monday.
Here are the key numbers from the electric vehicle maker:
Total deliveries Q3 2023: 435,059
Total production Q3 2023: 430,488
During the previous quarter, Tesla reported total deliveries of 466,140 and total vehicle production of 479,700. During the same period in 2022 Tesla reported total vehicle production of 365,923 and deliveries of 343,830.
“A sequential decline in volumes was caused by planned downtimes for factory upgrades, as discussed on the most recent earnings call,” the company said. “Our 2023 volume target of around 1.8 million vehicles remains unchanged.”
Despite its report of a nearly 7% decline in vehicle deliveries compared to the previous quarter, shares of Tesla closed nearly flat for the day at $251.60 on Monday.
On its last earnings call in July, CEO Elon Musk cautioned that Tesla would “continue to target 1.8 million vehicle deliveries this year” but expected third-quarter production to decline slightly following “summer shutdowns for a lot of factory upgrades.”
The company is still not reporting on production or delivery numbers for the Semi, a class 8 electric truck, though it delivered some to an early customer, PepsiCo, which is using the fully electric trucks for some deliveries.
Wall Street was expecting Tesla deliveries to reach 461,640 for the period ending Sept. 30, according to a consensus of analysts polled by StreetAccount. An independent Tesla researcher, who uses the handle Troy Teslike on social media, was expecting deliveries of 441,000 vehicles.
Tesla’s head of investor relations, Martin Viecha, sent out a company-compiled consensus to select investors, some of whom shared it publicly on social media. That number showed Wall Street was expecting around 455,000 total deliveries, with a median estimate of 453,128 deliveries for the quarter, based on 25 analysts’ estimates.
Tesla groups its deliveries into two categories, Model S and X vehicles, and Model 3 and Y vehicles, but doesn’t report individual model or region-specific numbers. Deliveries are the closest approximation to vehicles sold reported by the company.
Tesla slashed prices throughout the third quarter on its inventory vehicles and existing models, which put pressure on competitors to follow suit.
Tesla also revealed a revamped version of its Model 3 sedan, dubbed the “Highland,” with both new exterior and interior features, and started selling it in some regions outside the U.S. The interior for the refreshed Model 3 includes touchscreen displays for rear-seat passengers and ventilated seats, among other items. The vehicle is sold with a long-range battery option that gets about 390 miles, or 629 km, per charge.
In August, Zachary Kirkhorn announced he was stepping aside as CFO, and the company said Chief Accounting Officer Vaibhav Taneja would now serve both roles. Tesla’s next earnings call will be the first with Taneja in the CFO seat.