Tesla Quarterly Deliveries Hit Record As Car Maker's Pandemic Recovery Speeds Up

By Robert Wall 

Tesla Inc. vehicle deliveries hit a new record in the most recent quarter, accelerating the Silicon Valley car maker's recovery after sales slowed during the height of the pandemic.

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company on Friday said it sold 139,300 vehicles in the quarter ended Sept. 30, slightly ahead of the 137,000 deliveries analysts surveyed by FactSet expected and 44% above the prior-year figure. The figure topped the previous high of 112,000 vehicle handovers Tesla achieved in the final quarter of 2019, the last not impacted by the pandemic.

Tesla has delivered slightly more than 318,000 vehicles over the first nine months of this year despite a temporary shutdown of its lone U.S. car plant in Fremont, Calif., as local health officials tried to halt the spread of the coronavirus. The company in January said it aimed to deliver more than 500,000 vehicles in 2020, an increase of at least 36% from last year's total.

Tesla shares retreated more than 4% in premarket trading Friday. Delivery figures, though ahead of the latest estimates, fell short of Wall Street's lofty earlier estimates that were pared back this week.

Write to Robert Wall at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 02, 2020 09:04 ET (13:04 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.