Tesla delivers 241,300 cars in Q3, more than expected

(Reuters) – Tesla on Saturday said it delivered 241,300 electric cars in the third quarter, more than financial analysts expected after chief executive Elon Musk asked his employees to “go the extra mile” to meet targets.

Wall Street analysts expected the California battery-powered car specialist to deliver 229,442 models over the period, according to Refinitiv data.

Tesla said it had delivered 232,025 copies of its Model 3 and its Model Y SUV, the two compact silhouettes of the range, and 9,275 Model S and X, its sedan and its more upscale SUV.

Tesla weathered the chip shortage better than its competitors, and overall shipments jumped 20% from July to September, from its previous high in the second quarter.

This is its sixth consecutive quarter of growth.

According to analysts, rising exports to Europe and the introduction of the cheaper Model Y have helped support Tesla’s production in China.

The group’s total production in the third quarter increased by more than 15% to 237,823 vehicles compared to the previous quarter.

(Juby Babu and Nivedita Balu in Bangalore, French version Gilles Guillaume)