Tesla Q1 Sales = 10,030, Mercedes Chairman Talks Tesla & EVs (Cleantech Link Drop)

April 6, 201510 years ago Zachary Shahan 9 Comments

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Below is another cleantech link drop, my favorite cleantech stories from around the interwebs other than the ones we’ve covered. However, one of these stories doesn’t have a link, but I figured this is the best place to share it. Tesla emailed over a Q1 sales update (woohoo!). In case you don’t follow why a “woohoo!” is warranted here, the backstory is as follows:

Tesla has historically not shared its sales numbers until its quarterly investor/press call. It also doesn’t share month-by-month sales or country-specific sales. Basically, the issue is that because of its size and production/shipping limitations, it does things a bit differently than most automakers and its sales (read: delivery) numbers could potentially be misused and abused (or simply misinterpreted), which could lead to a whole lot of fun chaos. It has now decided to at least release quarterly figures to the press right after the end of the quarter. The statement regarding that is below, as well as Q1’s figures.

First, however, let me note that, based on the number for Q1, Elon Musk’s statement that~55% of 2014 Tesla deliveries went to the US, and various predictions/statements regarding 2015, I’m sticking with my monthly sales estimates (read: guesses) for Tesla. I’m finishing up the latest monthly sales report for the US and am about to publish it in the usual category over on EV Obsession. For now, though, here’s Tesla’s statement regarding global deliveries:

This was a new company record for the most cars delivered in a quarter and represents a 55% increase over Q1 last year.

Going forward, Tesla will publish the number of new car deliveries within three days of quarter end. We have decided to take this approach, because inaccurate sources of information are sometimes used by others to project the number of vehicle deliveries.

There may be small changes to this delivery count (usually well under 1%), as Tesla only counts a delivery if it is transferred to the end customer and all paperwork is correct.

Also, this is only one measure of our financial performance and should not be relied on as an indicator of our quarterly financial results, which depend on a variety of factors, including the cost of sales, foreign exchange movements and mix of directly leased vehicles.

On to the link drop…