Tesla has reached a milestone in its production of Model 3 sedans, but the electric vehicle company is now struggling to deliver them to customers.
Tesla announced Tuesday that it manufactured 53,239 Model 3s during the third quarter, meaning it reached its target of making between 50,000 to 55,000 Model 3s for the three-month period. The increased numbers are a hopeful sign for CEO Elon Musk’s bid to make Tesla consistently profitable and emerge as a mainstream automaker.
However, the California-based company is continuing to struggle with operational challenges.
Tesla came short of the 56,000 Model 3 deliveries expected by analysts, making only 55,849 deliveries in the third quarter. The company was able to raise distribution of its other models, with Model X sport-utility car deliveries rising to 13,190 from 11,865 in 2017. Musk acknowledged on Twitter that Tesla was dealing with a shortage of carriers to deliver the vehicles and was building its own car carriers to “alleviate load.” (RELATED: Al Gore Shoots Down Rumor That He Will Take Over Tesla)
“We made many improvements to these processes throughout the quarter and plan to make further improvements in Q4 so that we can scale successfully,” Tesla said in a statement, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Tesla owners went so far as to visit company stores and volunteer their time to help customers pick up their cars. The effort was to help get their numbers up before the end of the end of the quarter.
The developments come after Musk has entered into several self-induced controversies in the past few months.
The business magnate was sued for defamation after suggesting that one of the divers who rescued boys trapped in a Thai cave was a pedophile. He attracted controversy for smoking pot in September during a live YouTube interview, resulting in executive resignations and a dip in stock value. Musk reached a deal with the Securities an Exchange Commission in September and agreed to step down as chairman of the board and pay a $20 million fine for a sending an allegedly fraudulent tweet.
However, Musk will retain is position as CEO of the company.
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