Tesla fell just shy of hitting CEO Elon Musk’s goal of delivering 500,000 vehicles in 2020, the company announced Saturday, having shipped a record 499,550 throughout the year or 99.91 percent. Tesla said the final tally could vary by as much as 0.5 percent, though, so it’s possible that it will eclipse the 500,000 mark by the time it reveals the ultimate figures in its full year results, due out at the end of January.
Due to the pandemic and subsequent factory closures, Tesla’s successes weren’t constant throughout the year. In Q1, they produced 102,672 cars and delivered 88,400. In Q2, they produced 82,272 cars, a 20% decrease, and delivered 90,650, a 3% increase.
In Q3 production skyrocketed. They produced 145,036 cars and delivered 139,300. In Q4, the upwards trend continued: they produced 179,757 cars, a 24% increase, and delivered 180,570, a 30% increase. If the current growth rate is sustainable, then Tesla could sell one million cars in 2021.
Tesla said Saturday that it ultimately produced 179,757 vehicles in the fourth quarter and delivered 180,570, bringing its totals to 509,747 and 499,550 for the year, respectively. The company wound up selling around 130,000 more vehicles than it did in 2019.
The self-imposed 500,000-car sales goal is part of Musk’s attempt to drag the auto industry into the clean energy age, though it is more modest a bar than he once set. Musk had once predicted Tesla would deliver 1 million vehicles in 2020. But he later backed away from that number after the company ran into trouble ramping up production of its first mass-market electric car, the Model 3.
“So proud of the Tesla team for achieving this major milestone! At the start of Tesla, I thought we had a 10% chance of surviving at all,” Musk tweeted Saturday. “Tesla is responsible for 2/3 of all the personal & professional pain in my life combined. But it was worth it.”
