Tesla breaks quarterly record with 95,200 delivered cars

Elon Musk hinted at it in May, and he wasn’t kidding: In the second quarter of 2019, Tesla delivered a record 95,200 vehicles. 

This is a significant increase from the company’s own milestone of delivering 90,700 cars in a single quarter, which Tesla had achieved in the fourth quarter of 2018. 

The news is doubly important as it comes after a bad first quarter for Tesla, in which the company’s deliveries faltered and the company incurred massive losses. 

Tesla says it produced a total of 87,048 cars and delivered 95,200 cars in Q2. There was also an additional 7,400 vehicles in transit at the end of the quarter, and these deliveries will spill into the third quarter. 

With 77,500 units delivered, Tesla’s Model 3 accounted for the bulk of these numbers. But the Model S and X, which the company bulks together in these reports, sold well, too, with 17,650 units delivered. 

The numbers are impressive and answer some important questions about the state of Tesla’s business. The Model S and X numbers show there’s still plenty of customers willing to pay for a luxury electric sedan/SUV. And the strong Model 3 demand indicates that Tesla’s most important product is still extremely popular — though it will be interesting to see the sales breakdown per country. 

It should be noted that June 30 was the last day to get a $3,750 federal tax credit towards a Tesla purchase in the U.S., which surely contributed to the results above. Starting July 1, the credit is cut by half, to $1,875, and in 2020 it will disappear completely. 

The company previously said it expects to deliver 360,000 to 400,000 vehicles in 2019; judging by these latest results, the goal is attainable. 

We still don’t know how Tesla faired financially in Q2 2019; we’ll find that out when the company announces Q2 earnings, which should happen in a few days.