Tesla has reported its vehicle production for the first quarter of 2021. Those numbers were well past what many were speculating, including well known Tesla delivery tracker Troy Teslike, who has a superb record doing this. Tesla delivered 184,800 electric vehicles and produced 180,338 in the first quarter of the new year.
Many were assuming Tesla would deliver between 160,000 and 170,000 vehicles. Estimates ranged between 145,000 and 188,000 deliveries, but the Wall Street consensus (according to Factset) was just a bit over 160,000. Troy’s estimate was a “more bullish” 165,100.
In its statement, Tesla wrote, “We are encouraged by the strong reception of the Model Y in China and are quickly progressing to full production capacity. The new Model S and Model X have also been exceptionally well received, with the new equipment installed and tested in Q1, and we are in the early stages of ramping production.”
The company noted that its delivery count should be viewed as slightly conservative since it only counts a car as delivered if it’s transferred to the customer and all of the paperwork is accurate. Finalizing some paperwork may take a few days.
Graph courtesy of Tesla
Tesla also delivered 2,020 Model S and X vehicles from its inventory, a fraction of its total deliveries. In the graph above which comes from Tesla’s press release, you can see that Tesla didn’t produce any Model S or X vehicles, so just sold a little more than 2,000 from its inventory. Production has been delayed due to the revamped model designs and some production delays associated with the change.
A year ago, we predicted that when it came online, Giga Shanghai would be a game-changer for Tesla’s production numbers. Considering Tesla’s Q1 2021 delivery numbers are so high, and much of those deliveries come from the China factory (see Troy’s detailed look at that matter), I think it’s safe to say we are right about this one. Back in November of last year, Sina Technology reported that Tesla’s Giga Shanghai would produce 550,000 cars in 2021, with plans to export more than 100,000 of them.
Tesla’s Q1 2021 numbers reflect that things are not only going well for Tesla, but it’s on track to continue meeting or beating its goals.
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