EV maker Tesla said on Thursday it delivered 497,000 vehicles worldwide in the third quarter, marking a significant increase both from the previous quarter and from the same period last year.
The figures represent a 7.4% year over year jump, a sequential increase of 29.4% and a new all time record for the Elon Musk-led company.
Deliveries came in also well above Wall Street’s estimates of about 443,000 units. FactSet estimated the EV maker to deliver 448,000 vehicles.
Following the results, Tesla shares were trading nearly 4% higher at $476 — only $12 below the all time high reached late last year.
Wall Street analysts say the looming September 30 deadline for the $7,500 EV tax credit is fueling stronger demand across the US EV industry.
Tesla had delivered 336,681 vehicles in the first quarter and 384,122 in the second one, both staying below the same respective periods a year before.
Production rose by 9.1% compared to the second quarter, when it had produced 410,244 vehicles. However, it dropped by 4.8% compared to the same period a year ago.
The company also announced it produced 447,450 vehicles, of which 435,826 were Model Ys and Model 3s.
Tesla also said it deployed 12.5 GWh of energy storage products — up from the 9.6 GWh of the previous quarter.
The Elon Musk-led company will report its financial results for the third quarter on October 22, after market close.
Several analysts have increased their price targets on Tesla over the past few days and weeks, as the stock nears a new all time high.
The company has been seeing mixed results across its European markets since the beginning of the year.
Sales continue to grow in countries such as Norway and Spain; however, registrations remain low in other markets, like Sweden, while beginning to recover in countries such as France.
In the third quarter, Tesla sold 8,681 electric vehicles in Norway and 5,129 vehicles in Spain, led by strong registration figures in the final month of the quarter.
The same tendency was seen in France, where the company recorded its first year-over-year monthly growth, with vehicle registrations, with 5,584 vehicles sold in September.
Third-quarter sales totaled 8,223 vehicles. However, year-to-date sales remain down 32% compared with the first nine months of 2024.
In Sweden, 2,099 vehicles were sold in the third quarter, with 1,726 of those registered in September alone.
While this represents a significant increase from August’s 210 registrations, overall registrations are still down by more than 60% compared to the previous year.
In China, the company has recently introduced new trims of its best-selling Model 3 and Model Y — which are also locally produced in the company’s Giga factory in Shanghai.
Deliveries of the six-seat version of the Model Y, which began in early September, have driven weekly registrations to reach new quarterly highs over the past few weeks.
Between September 1 and 28, Tesla sold 66,300 electric vehicles in the country — above August’s 57,152 units reported by China’s Passenger Car Association (CPCA).
Last week, Musk wrote on X that “a lot of people thought Tesla stock would collapse as the tax credits came to an end this month. Guess not.”
On the latest earnings call in late July, CEO Elon Musk warned of “rough quarters” ahead, with growing concerns over weak demand and the delayed production of the affordable model.
Last month, Tesla’s Board of Directors proposed a new compensation package for CEO Elon Musk, linking his pay to ambitious targets for the company’s valuation, robotics advancements, and autonomous driving development.
According to Canaccord analyst George Gianarikas, “we are at a phase in Tesla‘s growth cycle where it must go through a period of creative destruction to achieve those goals.”
“Humanoids aside, the more success Tesla has in robotaxi, the fewer vehicles they will sell,” the analyst noted.
Tesla planned to start production of a much-anticipated, more affordable model in the first half of 2025, which was reaffirmed in its first-quarter shareholder deck.
However, a production ramp-up was put on the back burner, as the company focused on the EV credit expiry, according to CFO Vaibhav Taneja in July.
“We started the production of the lower-cost model as planned in the first half of ’25,” Taneja said during the second-quarter earnings call.
“However, given our focus on building and delivering as many vehicles as possible in the US before the EV credit expires, and the additional complexity of ramping a new product, the ramp will happen next quarter slower than initially expected.”
A few hours before the end of September, the company launched the Model Y Performance in the US, which had been first released in Europe.
