What happened
Volatility in Tesla's (TSLA 4.96%) stock price continued on Tuesday when shares rebounded, recovering somewhat from Monday's decline. Shares climbed as much as 6.9% in morning trading, and were up 3.3% at the time of this writing. The stock's rise came after Tesla's update on quarterly vehicle deliveries and production on Tuesday morning.
In what Tesla said was its "most productive quarter in Tesla history," total vehicle production increased sharply and Model 3 deliveries soared. And in an important piece of news, Tesla reassured investors it won't need to raise equity or issue debt this year.
Model 3. Image source: Tesla.
So what
Specifically, Tesla said it produced 34,494 vehicles and delivered 29,980 vehicles during its first quarter. Those figures were up 36% and 20%, respectively, from production and deliveries in the year-ago quarter.
Production and deliveries of the Model 3 jumped from 2,425 and 1,542 units, respectively, in the fourth quarter of 2017 to 9,766 and 8,180 Model 3 units in Q1. Tesla also noted the quality of Model 3 production is at the highest level the automaker has seen across all of its products.
"This is reflected in the overwhelming delight experienced by our customers with their Model 3's," the company said in a press release. "Our initial customer satisfaction score for Model 3 quality is above 93%, which is the highest score in Tesla's history."
Now what
Tesla achieved a production run rate of over 2,000 Model 3 units per week in the past seven days, but missed its target to finish the quarter with a run rate of 2,500 units per week. Despite that, Tesla management still says they expect to achieve a production run rate of 5,000 Model 3s per week in about three months.
With Model 3 production and deliveries expected to soar, management said the company should achieve "the long-sought ideal combination of high volume, good gross margin and strong positive operating cash flow" by the third quarter.
