Tesla has successfully managed to send a roadster into space and it is headed to the asteroid belt right now. However, it is having problems closer to home with the production of the Model 3 cars. The higher-end cars were produced in record numbers in the fourth quarter of 2017 but the company has reported a huge loss due to the production of Model 3 lagging behind.
Tesla has posted a huge loss of $675.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2017. This is more than five times of the $121.4 million it lost in the same quarter of 2016. Tesla has had a very busy year. It revelled Tesla Semi truck to revolutionize trucking along the next-generation Roadster. It began rolling out solar tiles for the customers and completed the world’s biggest battery well before schedule.
There has also been an increase in the production of Model S and Model X cars. 28,425 vehicles were shipped in the fourth quarter which is a 28 % increase on the same period in 2016. Overall the vehicle deliveries have grown by 35 % as compared to last year and has been the reason for 36% increase in automotive revenue according to Tesla.
However, all eyes are still on the Model 3, Tesla’s debut sedan for the mass market. Hundreds of thousands of people pre-ordered the vehicle which the company had planned to dispatch 20,000 per month by December but it was only able to ship 1,542 vehicles in the fourth quarter.
The company is hopeful that it will be able to boost production from here and has targetted a weekly production of 2,500 by the end of first quarter and the number is expected to double by the end of the second quarter. “If we can send a Roadster to the asteroid belt, we can probably solve Model 3 production,” said CEO Elon Musk during an investors earnings call.
Let’s wait and see if the company manages to reach its target this time around.