Tesla delivers record number of cars as price cut pays off for Musk

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Tesla delivered a record number of vehicles in the second quarter, beating expectations and demonstrating the value of price cuts earlier this year.

The electric vehicle pioneer said it delivered 466,000 vehicles between April and June, up 10.4 per cent from the previous quarter and 83.5 per cent from a year before. Production was even higher, at nearly 480,000.

The results exceed an already ambitious target of increasing volumes by an average of 50 per cent a year, helping to justify a 142 per cent rally in the stock so far this year.

Tesla’s market cap as of Friday was $820bn, below its all-time record above $1tn but still multiples higher than any other carmaker.

The stock has jumped in the past two months as General Motors, Ford, Volvo and Amazon-backed Rivian signed deals to adopt the battery charging standard developed by Tesla, opening up a new line of revenue for the company by selling access to its large network of chargers.

Tesla cut prices of its vehicles at the start of this year to help boost demand, with chief executive Elon Musk saying affordability was the problem.

“A vast number of people want to buy a Tesla car but can’t afford it, and these price changes really make a difference for the average consumer,” Musk said in January.

The Tesla Model 3 saloon now starts as low as $32,740 after federal tax credits worth $7,500.

Nearly all of the vehicles shipped last quarter were the mass-market Model 3 and the Model Y SUV. Fewer than 20,000 shipments were the higher-margin Model S and Model X vehicles.

Deliveries of the Cybertruck, Tesla’s highly anticipated rival to pick-up trucks, are due to begin this quarter.

Tesla said earlier this year that it aimed to boost margins by scaling up production, introducing lower-cost models and making its factories more efficient — steps “necessary” to ensure affordability so it could “become a multimillion vehicle producer”.

Musk predicted in January that Tesla could deliver as many as 2mn vehicles this year, up from 1.3mn in 2022.

Full results for the quarter are scheduled for July 19.