Tesla set a strong goal for 2020: build and deliver half a million cars. And while the electric vehicle company very nearly achieved both goals, it fell just 450 units short of its delivery goal.
The 500,000-car mark is an impressive one in a normal year, but it’s an especially important milestone in 2020, a year struck by pandemic-caused economic insecurity and a global recession. The company’s main factory in Fremont, California was shut for nearly two months due to stay-at-home orders. Wall Street analysts were expecting Tesla to fall several thousand units short of its goals — which makes that 450 number even more impressive.
And that wasn’t the only landmark Tesla hit. From Automotive News:
The electric-car maker delivered 180,570 vehicles in the last three months of the year, eclipsing its prior all-time high of 139,300 in the third quarter of 2020, while increasing its yearly total 36 per cent from 367,500 deliveries in 2019. The company has been ramping up output of its mass-market models to meet rising global demand for battery-powered cars.
The Palo Alto, Calif.,-based company said in a statement Saturday its delivery count should be viewed as slightly conservative and final numbers could vary by up to 0.5 per cent or more.
That big year-end push largely came down to manufacturing efforts at Tesla’s Shanghai plant. Two new plants in Austin, Texas and Berlin, Germany are expected to further ramp up production numbers.
Of course, Tesla’s numbers aren’t anywhere near those of established automakers — but it’s still impressive to see a relatively niche company’s numbers begin to match its hype.