Tesla Misses Q2 Production Targets

Tesla turned the traditional dealership model upside down a few years ago. Rather than utilizing the usual dealership lot method, the company chose to open retail stores in malls across the country which would then prompt customers to go home later to order their new Tesla online.This is an innovative way of thinking, but due to large numbers of orders, Tesla was unable to keep up with production in the second quarter of this year and failed to deliver over 20 percent of the cars that were ordered.

 

According to CNN Money, Tesla built 18,345 cars in Q2 of this year and they were only able to deliver 78 percent of them. These growing pains are not going top help, as Tesla still plans on rolling out their moderately-priced Model 3 at the end of next year. CNN Money also reports that, if Tesla were to deliver another 50,000 cars this year, that would only give them 80,000 total for 2016. That's a far cry from the 500,000 the automaker has felt it can build and deliver by 2018.

 

Tesla blamed this inability to fulfill their quota on an "extreme" ramp up in manufacturing that took place towards the end of the second quarter. This uptick in production is necessary as they aim to become a more mainstream manufacturer as opposed to a niche luxury brand, however a drop off in deliveries could not have come at a worse time for Tesla.

 

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is currently investigating the automaker's Autopilot feature. The technology has been blamed for last month's fatal crash that killed former Navy SEAL Joshua Brown. Brown's Tesla collided with a tractor trailer that the car's sensors couldn't detect.