We received more information about the critical North American market for Tesla (TSLA) as the automaker approaches its historic delivery target with just one day left in the quarter.
Tesla’s Delivery Target for Q4 2020
The truth is that we do not really know what Tesla’s delivery goal is for the quarter.
We assume that it is approximately 181,000 deliveries to achieve 500,000 deliveries by 2020, which was a long-term goal for Tesla.
CEO Elon Musk recently mentioned the goal as achievable in an email to employees who acquired Electrek last weekend, but the goal may be higher internally.
Tesla recently sharpened its internal information regarding the delivery targets, and it is extremely fragmented per market to keep the total numbers secret.
However, we get a better idea of where Tesla is in relation to its purpose.
Tesla is within 1,000 deliveries of its target in North America
Sources familiar with the matter said today that Tesla is about 1,000 units of its target in North America for the quarter.
The goal is believed to be North America’s contribution to the target of 181,000 electric cars worldwide, but this is not confirmed.
With just over one day left in the quarter, the goal is achievable, but it is cutting it.
Other markets also obviously contribute to the target, but North America is always critical at the end of the quarter, as transit times are shorter for vehicles coming from the Fremont plant.
Tesla still supplies vehicles in Europe and Asia, but the focus is on bringing cars from the Fremont factory to local markets.
Electrek’s Tasks: no matter what, a victory
Suppose the target is indeed 180,000 vehicles and Tesla misses it by 1,000 vehicles. This is still the company’s new quarterly delivery record with 40,000 units.
It’s amazing.
But the goal of 500,000 vehicles to be delivered in 2020 is important, as it has been a long-term target for Tesla.
In a merit call five years ago, Elon predicted it could happen, and not many people believed him:
‘I will have about half a million cars full of confidence by 2020 and may be able to exceed it. It’s been five years from now. If you went to Tesla five years ago, we produced 600 cars a year – now we can produce 600 cars in three days. So I think going from here to 500,000 cars a year is a much smaller leap. ‘
I think he might think again of his “much smaller leap” remark after the “production hell” that Tesla went through with Model 3, but the prediction is still impressive.
We often mock Elon’s predictability, especially when it comes to Tesla providing self-driving, but we need to give credit where credit goes.
When we talk about where credit is due, it’s a big thank you to Tesla employees who have to work tirelessly to reach the goal in the quarter while most people are on vacation.
For Tesla shareholders out there, like me, we are a big thank you to the employees for the wild ride TSLA had in 2020.
I hope for them that 2021 is going to be a little smoother.
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