Tesla (TSLA) reports 435,059 vehicle deliveries in Q3 2023, missing analyst estimates

Published , by TJ Denzer

The Tesla company is set to release its Q3 2023 earnings results later this October, but it would appear TSLA is looking to get ahead of some bad news that would be included in those results today. The company announced its vehicle deliveries for Q3 2023 reached a number of 435,059 in the three-month period ending at September 30. Unfortunately, this was a few tens of thousands short of Wall Street expectations, which set estimates at 461,640.

Tesla shared its Q3 2023 vehicle deliveries number in a report posted on its investor relations website on October 2, 2023. While Tesla is expected to share its full Q3 2023 earnings results on October 18, 2023, this report seems to get some of the bad news out of the way early. Simply put, Tesla was unable to top Wall Street estimates on vehicle deliveries for the quarter. The company delivered 435,059 vehicles, whereas the estimate called for 461,640, as shared by CNBC, who cited a StreetAccount poll based on a consensus of industry analysts.

Elon Musk predicted during Tesla's (TSLA) Q2 2023 conference call that the company would see lower vehicle production and delivery volume thanks to planned downtime for factory upgrades across its manufacturing ecosystem.
Source: Nora Tam / Getty Images

Tesla put much of the reasoning for the lower-than-expected delivery volume on “planned downtime for factory upgrades,” as the company prepared multiple gigafactories to be fit with new technology and equipment for new vehicles. This was actually a point of discussion during the Q2 2023 conference call, in which Elon Musk predicted that the company’s production levels would be lower in Q3. Nonetheless, Tesla has not shifted its volume targets for its fiscal 2023, expecting around 1.8 million vehicles by year’s end.

With a bit of the bad news out of the way (or perhaps making room for more), we can still look forward to Tesla’s official Q3 2023 earnings results later this month. Stay tuned to Shacknews as we watch for that report to drop, as well as further related news out of Tesla.