Tesla Q2 2016: Revenue falls short but orders are going strong

Overall revenue did rise 33 percent to $1.27 billion from a year ago but operating costs also rose 34 percent to $512.8 million. The company produced 18,345 vehicles during the April-to-June period, a quarterly record, but many were produced so late in the quarter that it delivered only 14,402, which was short of its goal.

Electric auto developer Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) expects to “blow people’s minds” with its self-driving vehicle technology, although its results failed to achieve quite the same effect.

Tesla Motors reported Wednesday, August 3, a larger second-quarter loss than expected as it worked to speed production in the face of strong demand for its electric cars.

The company said that it finished the second quarter consistently making 2,000 vehicles per week.

Musk’s comments came during a conference call with analysts, following an announcement that the company made a loss of $293.2m (£220m) in the second quarter of 2016.

Teslas shares rose less than 1 percent to $227.50 in after-hours trading.

Musk emphasised that his focus for now remains on getting the highly anticipated Model 3 to market, then following this up with a smaller SUV based on the same chassis, and improvements to the company’s Autopilot self-driving system. Tesla expects to boost its bottom line as it began large-scale production and delivery of the Model X SUV, a crossover vehicle created to appeal to families. Though this trend does not seem surprising due to high cost of Model X and Model S, the automaker will have to sign new agreements with lenders to fund the program. It is just how Elon is going to fund all this for both companies.

The company blamed the delay on a “steep production ramp” and said it has “consistently” been producing 2,000 cars each week, according to the earnings report.

The company adjusted refundable customer deposits for the Model 3 were also included in operating cash flow. And last week, it celebrated the official opening of its Gigafactory near Reno, Nevada, where battery-cell production is slated to begin in the fourth quarter.

Tesla reported last month that it had missed its vehicle delivery target for the second consecutive quarter, raising doubts that it would hit its annual target.

The US electric auto maker delivered lesser vehicles than anticipated during the last several months. The model is expected to launch next year and aims to open a new market segment for the company. For the Model 3 program, which Tesla expects to generate $20 billion annually, Tesla has moved on to tooling, production planning, and validation.

Tesla also failed to meet its own goals for production this quarter, as revealed last month.

“We aren’t entirely clear as to why they opened a formal investigation”, Musk said of U.S. regulators.