Tesla CEO Elon Musk is putting a crew of Tesla-loving volunteers to work as the company seeks to boost sales and deliveries of the highly touted Model 3 before the end of the third quarter.
Tesla struggled in the first quarter to show investors it could produce the inexpensive sedan, but now Musk is trying to prove he can deliver enough to make the company profitable. Tesla owners are flocking to the company’s main hub in California to field calls and lend a helping hand.
Volunteers are answering questions from new buyers whom Tesla staff are too busy to handle. The company is also offering $100 credits toward charging at Tesla’s network of stations, with one shopper claiming he was offered a discount of $3,000 on a Model S, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.
The mass push comes on the heels of a Department of Justice investigation and Securities and Exchange Commission civil probe into an Aug. 7 tweet Musk made suggesting the company was preparing to go private.
Wall Street analysts were not satisfied with Tesla’s first quarter production numbers. (RELATED: Tesla’s Model 3 Production Deliveries Weren’t Enough To Satisfy Wall Street Analysts)
The company hit a one-week production goal of 5,000 Model 3 vehicles for the last week of the June quarter, but it still posted 40,740 vehicles versus analysts’ consensus expectation of approximately 51,000.
Tesla’s shares fell 7.2 percent a day after the company announced the June numbers. The sharp decline followed news that the Silicon Valley company shifted employees from Model S to meet crucial deadlines for the Model 3, a vehicle Musk believes will make Tesla one of the biggest hitters in the automotive industry.
Goldman Sachs reiterated its sell rating for Tesla shares, noting net Model 3 reservations declined to 420,000 from 455,000 in 2017. Tesla saw a sharp decline in reservations for the $35,000 vehicle as customers were forced to wait more than a year before their car gets delivered.
Tesla has not responded to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment about whether volunteers are offering their services.
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