Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA) is an American automotive and energy storage company that designs, manufactures, and sells luxury electric cars, electric vehicle powertrain components, and battery products. The company also offers electric vehicle powertrain components and systems to other manufacturers. Tesla Motors, Inc. sells its products through a network of Tesla stores and galleries, as well as through Internet.
Tesla’s stock struggled in early 2016 with share prices dropping 20.34% in January alone. This slide is attributed largely to the lack of follow-through on production estimates put forth by the company for the Model S and the Model X. The company cited manufacturing issues with the Model X, supposedly because the company added too much new and advanced technology to the model which resulted in parts shortages. The total sales for both the Model S and Model X reached 14,820 in the first quarter, 8% short of previous estimates.
Still, sales for Q1 were about 50% more than the same quarter last year, and a spokeswoman for Tesla is assuring investors and customers that the company is still on track to deliver between 80-90,000 new vehicles by the end of this year.
CEO Elon Musk admitted to his Twitter followers that the company will “need to rethink production planning” as they look forward to their newest Model 3 which was made available for reservations on Thursday, March 31st. With the number of reservations reaching 276,000 by Sunday, and Musk saying that the numbers were 2-4 times more than expected, it’s clear that production speed will need to be amped up in order to comply with the overwhelming demand.
Expectations and demand are high for this newest model coming from the electric vehicle company. From the time that Musk announced, on February 11th, the day that the model would become available to the day that reservations opened, the stock saw growth of close to 60%.
Tesla is aiming to reach a larger market with the Model 3’s starting price placed at $35,000 before government incentives. The four-door sedan will be equipped with autopilot hardware, semi-autonomous features including automatic lane changing and lane-keeping. There will also be storage space in both the front and back of the vehicle and a glass roof from front to back to allow for extra headroom.
