This comprised 24,728 Model S and Model X, and 9,766 were Model 3. Reports of early Model 3 deliveries arriving from the factory with larger-than-expected panel gaps, poorly finished paint, and squeaking trim had led some to assume Tesla was trying to pump the cars out too fast for quality control to catch up.
Tesla built 2,020 Model 3 cars in the last seven days, trailing its target for a 2,500-unit rate for the final week of March. "I move my desk around to wherever the most important place is in the company at that time..." Musk had vowed he would be making 2,500 cars a week by the end of the first quarter - a target that was already scaled back from a prior forecast of 5,000 a week by the end of 2017.
The biggest challenge that Tesla now faces is not what is in the news - it is its mounting debt.
Musk has used branded merchandise to raise money and draw attention toward his tunnel-boring business, The Boring Company, with which he hopes to construct underground tunnel networks that could be used for his proposed Loop and Hyperloop high-speed transit systems. Tesla stated in its Q4 earnings release that Model 3 has negative gross margins. Until recently, senior VP of engineering Doug Field had been overseeing both the Model 3's manufacturing and engineering. The emphasis was on close collaboration regarding this.
While less than a third of the vehicles were Model 3s, Tesla says production of the entry-level EV "increased exponentially, representing a fourfold increase over last quarter".
Although all this bad news hasn't stopped Musk from cracking jokes on Twitter on April Fools day about the state of the comapny.
Not every car that rolls off the assembly line is immediately delivered to a customer. The company's stock price has dropped by more than a quarter over the past three weeks, according to a WikiTribune analysis. The reasons for order cancellation are almost entirely due to delays in production in general and delays in availability of certain planned options, particularly dual motor AWD and the smaller battery pack.
The company said it produced 2,020 of its first mass market car in the last seven days. Investors have grown concerned as the company has struggled with what it has called "production hell."
Unfortunately, Tesla doesn't break down its delivery results per quarter, but since the Model 3 is currently only available in the US, we can safely assume that all the deliveries happened in America.
"Despite Tuesday's defiant statement", he concluded, "a capital raise to cushion against further snafus would be the prudent thing to do".