Tesla Motors Model S Push Beyond North America Detailed In Brief
As Tesla Motors first quarter ended, this week it was made clear that the electric car company's plans for spreading beyond North American sales by the end of the year. With a "meaningful demand" appearing for the financing plan adjustment pushed earlier this month, the company made it clear this week that the growth they've seen in the very recent past will be continuing outside the North American market soon. At the moment, every Tesla Model S electric vehicle sold has been delivered within North America – soon the company will spread to Europe and Asia with numbers a bit smaller than their USA delivery schedule through 2013.
The first quarter of this year saw Tesla producing their 10,000th Model S vehicle body – and they'd better get a move on if their suggestions of rates of orders are correct. Tesla Motors noted this week that they've reached an order rate greater than 20,000 per year worldwide, and not just in the United States. Tesla notes that though the Model S has only been delivered to North American customers at the moment, they've seen "significant potential" in both Europe and Asia.
The company has suggested that they'll be building right around 5,000 Model S vehicles in the second quarter of 2013, some of them headed for Europe for delivery in the third quarter of the year. The company has also raised their target for sales on this electric vehicle to 21,000 unit deliveries by the end of the year, worldwide.
"I think we'll see at least 10,000 units of demand per year in Europe, and at least 5,000 in Asia." – Deepak Ahuja, Chief Financial Officer
"Do not take these numbers as final in any way, but if I'm asked to speculate I could say 15,000 units for North America, 5,000 for Europe, and 1,000 for Asia [by the end of the year]." – Elon Musk
In the announcement mass this week regarding their first quarter of 2013, Tesla also noted that they'd exceeded their targets for deliveries, made a significant expansion in gross margin, and generated a profit of $15 million. That is, again, the first time the company has made a quarterly profit in the entirety of the company's 10-year history. Producing approximately 400 Model S cars per week certainly must have had shareholders either nervous or pumped up – that's a lot of metal with potential to hit the road.
[via Tesla Motors Live Conference]