Model 3 Drives Tesla to New Heights

Tesla reported a 134% year-on-year increase in automotive revenue for the fourth quarter of 2018 to 6.32 billion US dollars. The company claimed its Model 3 was the best-selling passenger car in the US in terms of revenue in both the third and fourth quarter. "With nearly 140,000 units sold, Model 3 was also the best-selling premium vehicle (including SUVs) in the US for 2018 – the first time in decades an American carmaker has been able to secure the top spot," Tesla said.

Tesla is expecting to deliver a total of 360,000 to 400,000 vehicles in 2019, representing year-on-year growth of approximately 45% to 65%. By the end of 2019, Tesla is planning to start producing Model 3 vehicles at its Gigafactory Shanghai where it hopes the capital spend per unit of capacity will be less than half of that of the existing Model 3 line in Fremont.  The company said it is aiming for annualised Model 3 output in excess of 500,000 units sometime between the fourth quarter of 2019 and the second quarter of 2020.

Tesla recently launched “Navigate on Autopilot”, a feature that "allows, on most controlled-access roads such as highways, any Tesla vehicle with Enhanced Autopilot to change lanes, transition from one highway to another, and ultimately exit the highway when approaching the final destination."

Tesla also reported that energy generation and storage revenue in the fourth quarter increased by 25% year-on-year to 371 million dollars, mainly driven by a substantial growth in energy storage deployments. "Energy generation and storage revenue should increase significantly in 2019, mainly due to the storage business," Tesla said. Source: Tesla statement