Tesla's first quarter delivery and production numbers have beaten estimates, with the electric car maker reporting 422,875 vehicle deliveries globally in the first three months of the year.
The stronger than expected numbers show that the price cuts Tesla announced last year have been effective in driving up sales. The EV maker's first-quarter vehicle sales numbers show that sales surged 36 percent following the company's decision early this year to cut prices to stimulate demand.
The first quarter numbers are an all-time record for Tesla. According to estimates by Bloomberg, the Elon Musk company would have made just about 41,000 car deliveries. Tesla's production numbers stood at 440,808 in the first quarter, against estimates of 432,500 vehicles.
Price Cut Impact
When it comes to record sales figures, the huge demand for the Model 3 and Model Y SUV helped the EV maker report impressive sales numbers in the US and abroad, according to Yahoo News.
Tesla cut prices of its Model S and Model X vehicles in the United States in March, days after chief executive Elon Musk said recent price cuts of other models had stoked demand. Prices of Tesla's Model S cars were cut by $5,000. The basic version of Model S would now cost $89,990, down from $94,990 before, while its performance variant would cost $109,990, from $114,990 earlier. In China, which is a huge market for Tesla, the company had cut prices earlier in January. The prices of Chinese-made Model 3 had fallen by more than 13 percent.
In march, Tesla chief financial officer Zach Kirkhorn said the company planned to invest a whopping $175 billion in order to increase car output to 20 million vehicles annually by 2030. Currently, the annual vehicle turnout from Tesla factories is about 2 million vehicles. The company's plan to set up a factory in Mexico aligned with the expectations that Tesla maybe planning to roll out small electric cars. Downsizing the starting models will be one of the means to penetrate the burgeoning electric vehicle market, which is seeing intense competition in markets across the world.
