What just happened? Tesla this week reported its best ever first quarter performance as the electric automaker produced 102,672 vehicles during the three-month period ending March 31, 2020. The electric automaker's numbers could have been even higher had it not been for Covid-19-related issues that impacted production at its Fremont, California, manufacturing facility in March.
Of those, the majority - 87,282 - were Model 3 and Model Y vehicles while the remaining 15,390 were Model S and Model X vehicles. Worth noting is the fact that Tesla's Model Y crossover only entered production in January with the first deliveries taking place in mid-March, some six months ahead of schedule.
Tesla during the period delivered 88,400 vehicles, a number it said is slightly conservative as they only count a vehicle as delivered if it has transferred to the customer and all paperwork is correct.
Tesla further cautioned that vehicle deliveries represent just one of many measures of the company's financial performance and should not be relied upon as a sole indicator of quarterly financial results.
Tesla's stock shot up on the news in after-hours trading and is currently up more than nine percent on the day.
TrueCar, an automotive pricing and information website, estimates that in March 2020, US auto sales dropped by more than a third compared to the same period a year ago due to the virus.
Masthead credit: Hadrian