Tesla shares stall as Musk delivers fewer EVs than expected

Tesla shares fell over 5.4 per cent on Wednesday after the electric vehicle (EV) company’s third quarter deliveries came in south of expectations.

Elon Musk’s company shipped 462,890 EVs in the three months to 30 September, up 6.4 per cent from the previous quarter, making it the first deliveries increase this year for the car maker.

However, it was below the 466,000 EVs it delivered in the same period last year and the figure narrowly failed to meet Wall Street’s forecast of nearly 463,900, according to Bloomberg.

Tesla needed 585,000 deliveries in the third quarter to remain on track to hit its goal of two million vehicles delivered this year, so it will now need a huge fourth quarter to reach this.

The Texas-based company has been fencing off slow demand and competition from Chinese rivals, but insurance deals, zero-interest loans, subsidies in China and free charging have helped it accelerate.

The deliveries were “good and a step in the right direction,” said Dan Ives, senior equity research analyst at Wedbush Securities. “Overall, this is a clear improvement from the first half and we believe getting in the range of 1.8m for the year is still the key and important bogey,” he added.

Tesla, which is set to reveal a purpose-built robotaxi next week, will report third quarter earnings on 23 October.