Tesla suffers higher losses
August 4, 2016
The electric car pioneer reported higher losses than last year as production lagged behind targets.
The US-based firm booked a net loss of $293 million (263 million euros) in the second quarter of 2016, up from $184 million in the same period last year.
Revenues meanwhile climbed by around a third to $1.3 billion, as Tesla ramped up production but missed its target of 17,000 vehicles by around 2,600 units.
"We were in production hell for the first six months of the year; we managed to climb out of that," said CEO Elon Musk.
He added that assembly lines were now "humming," putting Tesla on track to meet its goal of delivering 50,000 cars in the year's second six months.
Plans for further expansion
Tesla works on further automating its assembly lines to increase production ten-fold within the next three years.
It also started building a giant new factory in Nevada in a bid to press down the cost of batteries.
And it has just announced the takeover of solar energy firm SolarCity, where Musk is chairman, leaving him as the largest shareholder.
But experts view these expansion plans tentatively.
"There's no doubt Tesla will remain the category leader as electric vehicles become increasingly mainstream, but it could be years before the bottom line justifies any investment in Tesla other than a purely speculative one," said analyst James Brumley.
mrk/hg (Reuters, AFP)