Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares were up 1.99% to $216.50 on Friday before reports of a fatal car crash with its Model S unit hit the newswires. The company has a market cap of $32.21 billion at 145.88 million shares outstanding.
Tesla Motors is a company that designs, develops, manufactures and sells electric vehicles and energy storage products. Its two main electric car products are the Model X SUV and the Model S sedan, which has had 107,000 units delivered across the world.
The cause of the recent Model S crash is still under investigation but reports are showing that the car was in Autopilot mode when the accident occurred. A DVD player was also found in the crash site but whether it was operating at the time of the accident or not hasn’t been determined yet. Investigators are saying that the Autopilot feature failed to identify the presence of an approaching white vehicle against the background of a bright sky.
Also on Friday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk shared that the company was able to deliver fewer vehicles than forecast, perhaps setting the tone for a weak sales report due on this Fourth of July holiday. The company delivered 14,370 vehicles in the second quarter of the year versus the forecast at 17,000. This was also weaker compared to the previous sales of 14,810 vehicles.
Apart from that, the electric car company produced fewer than expected vehicles for the period. Tesla made 18,345 vehicles during the quarter, representing a 20% decline from their production in Q1. Still, the company is hoping to bank on productivity improvements, promising to produce 2,200 vehicles per week in Q3 and 2,400 vehicles per week in Q4. In addition, the company could target backlogs in the coming months, likely producing and delivering a total of 50,000 vehicles for the remainder of the year.
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