Publications
Partners
Elon Musk corrected a prediction for how many cars Tesla would make in 2019, just hours after tweeting that production would reach about 500 000 vehicles this year.
Tesla expects to be making cars at an annual rate of about 500 000 by the end of this year, Musk, the company’s chief executive officer, posted on Twitter. His initial tweet suggested the automaker would produce that number in 2019. Musk said Tesla still forecasts deliveries of about 400 000 vehicles this year.
Musk’s earlier prediction on Twitter that Tesla would make about 500 000 cars in 2019 was difficult to gauge - given his proclivity for setting stretch goals - and was greeted with some skepticism on Twitter.
The number he put in the posting late Tuesday was roughly in line with his previous comments, but that depends on which figure investors paid attention to when Tesla reported earnings January 30.
In a letter to shareholders, Musk and his chief financial officer forecast as many as 400 000 total vehicle deliveries this year. Within hours, the CEO told an analyst on Tesla’s earnings call to expect sales for just the Model 3 to reach as many as 500 000 units in 2019.
To Musk’s credit, Tesla did make substantial progress in mass-manufacturing electric vehicles last year, after overcoming the “production hell” he predicted the company would go through starting in the fall of 2017. Total deliveries more than tripled last year.
Still, making 500 000 vehicles in 2019 would be difficult based on the guidance Musk and CFO Deepak Ahuja gave late last month: that Tesla may need until the end of this year to reach a weekly production rate of 7 000 Model 3s.
