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Tesla shares fall on price cut, soft Model 3 deliveries

January 03, 2019 00:55·
METRO GRAB- taken from the Reddit account of Leicina without permission Tesla-hating truck drivers are blocking access to charging pointshttps

METRO GRAB- taken from the Reddit account of Leicina without permission Tesla-hating truck drivers are blocking access to charging pointshttps

Tesla more than tripled deliveries of its electric cars in the last three months of the year but the news was not enough for Wall Street which sent the company's shares into a tailspin following news that sales of its first mass market vehicle were less than expected.

The $7,500 federal tax credit for electric cars was cut in half as of Tuesday.

Tesla (TSLA) is cutting the prices on all of its models by $2,000 to help offset a reduction in federal tax credits for drivers who buy electric vehicles. The company said the remaining tax credits combined with not having to fuel up at the gas pump and lowered maintenance costs "means our vehicles are even more affordable than similarly priced gasoline vehicles".

The Palo Alto, California, company's 2018 sales included nearly 146,000 Model 3 lower-priced cars and another 99,000 of the more expensive Model S sedan and Model X SUV. The more than 90,000 deliveries that Tesla was able to accomplish in Q4 translates to about 1,000 vehicles per day - a notable feat for such a young carmaker.

Overall, total production rose 8 percent to 86,555 vehicles.

In Q4, we produced and delivered at the rate of almost 1,000 vehicles per day, setting new company records for both production and deliveries.

While fourth quarter Model 3 deliveries of 63,150 topped the 56,065 Tesla made in the third quarter, it fell just short of the 63,700 analysts expected, Bloomberg reported. Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives told CNBC that Tesla's failure to meet Wall Street projection was something that his firm had been prepared for: "It was a move that was within the realm of possibility, but it caught investors off guard", he said. Tesla had previously stoked investor optimism by claiming that improvements in efficiency had reduced the number of labor hours needed to build the Model 3 by 30 percent.

Tesla shares fell as much as 9.7% to $300.52 as of 9:36 am on Wednesday in NY.

The move follows a wave of price cuts (and jumps) as Tesla trimmed option packages, colors, and equipment to increase production.

With Musk having generally reigned in his own behavior and the company's Model 3 production figures much closer to weekly production targets, the alarm bells that were ringing six months ago have quieted considerably. This is despite the electric vehicle maker only producing mid and high-priced variants for the Model 3, and deliveries only being exclusive to North America. The company said it would begin delivering Model 3s to Europe and China in February.

"There remain significant opportunities to continue to grow Model 3 sales by expanding to global markets, introducing lower-priced variants and offering leasing", Tesla said in a press release.

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