The delivery figure exceeded the average estimate of 396,466 vehicles compiled by Bloomberg. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg)
key takeaways:
- Tesla delivered 480,126 vehicles worldwide in the second quarter, exceeding the Bloomberg average estimate of 396,466.
- Deliveries increased 25% from a year ago, when Tesla faced consumer backlash against CEO Elon Musk.
- Tesla plans to spend more than $25 billion this year as Musk expands factory operations.
Tesla Inc’s vehicle sales beat Wall Street’s modest expectations by a wide margin, taking the lead in the slow-growing global market for plug-in cars.
The company delivered 480,126 vehicles worldwide in the second quarter. The figure, announced in a statement on July 2, is higher than the average estimate of 396,466 vehicles compiled by Bloomberg.
Deliveries increased 25% from a year ago, when Tesla faced widespread consumer backlash against CEO Elon Musk’s polarizing work for the Trump administration.
While sales are improving, many Musk watchers are leaving Tesla’s core electric vehicle business behind and looking toward the CEO’s vision of turning artificial intelligence, autonomy and robotics into major revenue generators in the future. They are also expecting Musk to potentially choose to merge the company with SpaceX, which staged a record initial public offering last month.
Maintaining a fast pace of electric vehicle sales is important for Tesla as it takes a more spendthrift approach to capital spending. The company plans to spend more than $25 billion this year, nearly three times last year’s outlay, as Musk expands factory operations to produce the Optimus humanoid robot and autonomous Cybercab, among other initiatives.
Tesla shares jumped as much as 3% ahead of regular trading in New York. The stock has fallen more than 5% this year through July 1, lagging a more than 9% gain in the S&P 500 index.
