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Technology

Tesla logs profitable quarter, Musk bullish on energy

San Francisco, Oct 24


Elon Musk-run Tesla has surprised Wall Street by registering a profitable third quarter with a total revenue of $6.3 billion riding on sales of its Model S, Model X and Model 3 electric cars.

In the third quarter, automotive revenues were $5.35 billion.

Tesla said it expected to deliver between 360,000 and 400,000 vehicles this year, representing 45-65 per cent growth.

"Compared to Q3 of 2018, the percentage of leased vehicles has tripled and alone has impacted revenue by the majority of the YoY decrease. Model 3 mix has increased while we have taken actions leading to the reduction of the ASP of our products," Tesla said in a statement on Thursday.

"We are positioned to accelerate our growth further through Gigafactory Shanghai, Model Y and also through increasing build rates on our existing production lines," the company added.

According to Musk, the company has started with trial production at Giga Shanghai Shanghai and built four vehicles from body, to paint to general assembly.

"We're planning to build model-wise in Shanghai as well of course, and build a Gigafactory in Europe and we hope to announce the location to that Gigafactory. In fact, we will announce the location to that Gigafactory before the end of this year," Musk told analysts in an earnings call.

He said he expects Tesla Energy to be of the same or roughly the same size as the company's automotive sector or business.

"This is the most underappreciated group. I think it could be bigger, but it's certainly of a similar magnitude to Tesla Solar. Meaning, if you take Tesla Solar plus battery stuff, Tesla Energy is, I think, the least appreciated element," Musk noted.

He said they are confident of producing excess of 1,000 units per week "no later than the middle of 2020".

"Regarding Model Y, we're also ahead of schedule on Model Y preparations in Fremont, and we've moved the launch timeline from full 2020 to summer 2020. There may be some room for improvement there, but we're confident about summer 2020," he said.