Tesla Announces Huge Losses, Reduces Model X and Model S Production

Tesla recently announced the largest quarterly loss in the company’s history and stated that they would be slashing production on their Model X and Model S cars to focus resources on the development of their Model 3 vehicle.

Business Insider UK reports that Tesla announced on Wednesday the largest quarterly loss in the history of the company. Bloomberg also reported some key numbers from Tesla’s announcement which can be found below:

• Adjusted loss per share: -$2.92 (-$2.23 expected).
• Revenue: $2.98 billion ($2.39 billion expected).
• Free cash flow: –$1.4 billion (-$1.2 billion expected)

Tesla stated that they would be producing approximately “10 percent fewer,” Model S and Model X cars in the fourth quarter in an attempt to increase production of their new Model 3 sedan. The company hopes to hit a production rate of approximately 5,000 vehicles a week by the end of the first quarter of 2018.

In a statement, Tesla said, “While we continue to make significant progress each week in fixing Model 3 bottlenecks, the nature of manufacturing challenges during a ramp such as this makes it difficult to predict exactly how long it will take for all bottlenecks to be cleared or when new ones will appear.”

In October Tesla only produced approximately 260 cars, falling short of their projected production of 1,500 cars. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has previously stated that the Model 3 sedan was “deep in production hell.” Following the release of the earnings report, Tesla stock fell by five percent.

The announcement of the largest quarterly loss in Tesla’s history comes shortly after the company fired a number of employees following “performance reviews.” Following a number of dismissals at Tesla’s motor division, firings at Tesla subsidiary SolarCity continued, but some employees claimed that they never received performance reviews. Tesla previously announced plans to lay off approximately 205 SolarCity employees at its office in Roseville, California, but in the last two weeks, employees across the country have been let go.

Tesla did not reveal how many employees have been let go from SolarCity but former employees estimated that around 1,200 people have been fired from both Tesla and SolarCity in the latest wave of dismissals.