Tesla ramps up Model 3 production despite record losses

Tesla has finally hit its production goal of 5,000 Model 3 electric cars a week and seen stocks surge despite the company posting record losses.

The electric car firm says it produced 53,339 vehicles and delivered 40,768 during its second quarter, which closed on 30 June. Around 18,000 of the delivered cars were Model 3s.

As well as finally meeting production targets for the electric saloon, the strong production run also helped Tesla record $4bn (£3bn) in revenue, reports Autocar.

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But the push towards increasing Model 3 output has taken its toll on Tesla’s expenditure, with the company reporting an overall loss of more than $717m (£550m) in the three months from April - double the figure for the same period last year, the motoring magazine says.

However, Telsa boss Elon Musk told investors during a conference call on Wednesday that he believes the firm will turn a profit in the remaining quarters of 2018, unless the economy collapses or a major loan is paid off, The Wall Street Journal reports.

He also said sorry to two analysts for cutting them off during a conference call in May, when he dismissed their questions as “boring” and “dry”.

“I'd like to apologise,” Musk told Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi and RBC Capital Markets’ Joseph Spak. “There’s really no excuse for bad manners.”

In addition, Musk wrote a letter to shareholders that said: “It took 15 years to execute on our initial goal to produce an affordable, long-range electric vehicle that can also be highly profitable.

“In the second half of 2018, we expect, for the first time in our history, to become both sustainably profitable and cash flow positive.”