Shares of Tesla ran up 6.0 percent in pre-market trading on Monday after the news of the long-elusive Model 3 production target. Tesla has only reported two profitable quarters in eight years as a public company and is deep in debt.
The company is facing questions about its balance sheet, and Musk has lashed out against critics in recent months. But he only had high praise for his employees – Emailing: “We did it!! What an incredible job by an amazing team. Couldn’t be more proud to work with you.”
He added: “I think we just became a real car company.”
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— Tesla (@Tesla) July 2, 2018
Production has tripled
The Model 3 is Tesla’s first mass production model, and the company has missed two production goals, creating an upset in the market that has had investors worried over the overall aspects for Tesla’s future.
But Tesla said 11,166 Model 3 vehicles are already in transit to customers with delivery planned in the third quarter. Model 3 production tripled to 28,578 in the company’s second quarter from the previous quarter, and Musk expects to increase production to 6,000 vehicles a week by next month.
There are about 420,000 Tesla Model 3 reservations remaining at the end of the second quarter, There were more than 450,000 reservations for the car at the end of the first quarter.
The BBC is reporting Musk’s announcement prompted “a tongue-in-cheek response from Steven Armstrong, chairman and chief executive for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa at Ford, the 115-year-old US motor giant.
But only Elon Musk has the audacity and brashness to go to extremes to keep a promise, and he was able to accomplish the self-imposed goal of 5,000 Model 3s a week by erecting an entirely new general assembly line between May and June in one of the car parks of its Fremont factory in California.
