Tesla car sales surged in the past quarter, possibly indicating the worst of the Musk backlash is behind it. The electric vehicle maker reported delivering 480,126 cars to customers, a 25% jump from the same period last year.
Second-Quarter Sales
The second-quarter sales, the second straight gain in a row, also came in much higher than the 401,000 that Wall Street analysts had been expecting. Tesla’s stock fell sharply in midday trading, down 6%, an odd development that Seth Goldstein of Morningstar attributed possibly to profit-taking by investors after a recent run-up in its shares.
Tesla introduced cheaper Model Y and Model 3 models last year in hopes of boosting sales. In Europe, it also cut the cost of leasing and loans. Sales were also helped by a surge of EV buying in general on the continent as gas and diesel prices have risen due to the Iran war.
For future quarters, Tesla hopes to lure even more Europeans as countries approve use of its driver assistance feature, available in the U.S., called Full Self-Driving (Supervised). The Netherlands approved the system in April, followed by Estonia, Greece, and Lithuania.
Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.
