Tesla delivered a record 201,250 cars in second quarter

Tesla delivered 201,250 cars worldwide in the second quarter, a record for the electric-car maker led by chief executive officer Elon Musk.

While the company doesn’t break out sales by region, business appeared healthy in China. The bulk of the period’s sales were of the Model 3 sedan and the Model Y crossover, which are produced in Shanghai and Fremont, California. The Model S sedan and Model X sport utility vehicle are made only in Fremont. The countries are Tesla’s biggest markets.

“Our teams have done an outstanding job navigating through global supply chain and logistics challenges,” Tesla said in a statement Friday.

Quarterly deliveries are one of the most closely watched indicators for Tesla. They underpin its financial results and are widely seen as a barometer of consumer demand for electric vehicles generally because the company is the market leader in battery-powered cars.

Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expected Tesla to deliver 204,160 vehicles. The company said its count was slightly conservative and that final numbers could vary by 0.5 per cent or more.

Congrats Tesla Team on over 200,000 car built & delivered in Q2, despite many challenges!!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 2, 2021

Tesla rose 2.4 per cent to $694.44 at 9.48am in New York. The stock declined 3.9 per cent this year through Thursday, while the S&P 500 advanced 15 per cent.

“This quarter was an impressive performance from Musk & Co. and now with a strong second-half performance should be able to hit ~900k vehicles for the year, which was a major stretch goal,” Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives said in a note to clients.

Tesla delivered 199,360 of the 3 and Y models in the quarter and produced 206,421. It delivered 1,890 S and X cars while producing 2,340.

Last month, Tesla celebrated its new Model S Plaid, the company’s fastest production car. Musk billed the Plaid as a halo product that proves the superiority of electric cars.