Tesla had record car sales, even as U.S.-China trade war apparently looms large over the carmaker’s China market.
The company confirmed numbers leaked to an industry news site on Monday that it produced around 80,000 cars in Q3. What's more, beating Wall Street expectations of 80,000, deliveries peaked at 83,500 - including almost 56,000 of the Model 3 sedan whose market is seen as critical to the company’ profit potential.
However, Tesla admitted that it had missed its weekly Model 3 production target.
Tesla is also apparently concerned about the 40% tariff China has slapped on imports of its cars - something that could potentially thwart the firm's sales and/or income from the world' s biggest consumer of electric vehicles. "Tesla is now operating at a 55 percent to 60 percent cost disadvantage compared to the exact same car locally produced in China," the company said. In order to mitigate the impact, the electric car maker is planning to up the ante on the construction of its Shanghai factory.