TESLA 3Q SALES RISE 27% BUT FALL SHORT OF EXPECTATIONS DUE SOFTENING DEMAND AND FACTORY DOWNTIME

Tesla’s summertime deliveries of electric vehicles surged 27% from last year but still fell below analyst projections as Elon Musk’s car company navigated through softening customer demand as well as factory upgrades.

The Austin, Texas, automaker sold 435,059 vehicles during the July-to-September period, up from 343,830 at the same time last year. Analysts had predicted Tesla would sell about 461,000 vehicles during the latest quarter, according to FactSet Research.

As usual, Tesla’s sales consisted primarily of its Model 3 and Model Y vehicles, which have been made even more attractive by rounds of price cutting that have eaten into the company’s profit margins. The third-quarter sales also marked a step back from Tesla’s 466,140 vehicle deliveries during the April-to-June period.

The company blamed the sequential sales decline on planned downtime to upgrade its factories.

Tesla said it made 430,488 vehicles in the latest quarter, slightly below the number it delivered.

Despite large price cuts, sales of the aging models S and X fell 14% year over year to 15,985.