Elon Musk’s Tesla burned through $739.5 million as the company posted a record quarterly loss of $717.5 million on Wednesday. Nevertheless, the company remains optimistic about its future and claims Model 3 production will climb 75 percent in the third quarter.
Elon Musks electric car company Tesla burned through $739.5 million in cash in its second quarter, resulting in a record $717.5 million net loss.
The company’s net loss more than doubled from the same quarter last year, and was slightly more than the loss in the first quarter of 2018. Despite this, the company has reiterated CEO Elon Musks promise to post a profit in the third and fourth quarters.
The company claims it plans to produce 50,000 to 55,000 Model 3 sedans in the third quarter, an increase of 75 percent from the first quarter. The company began to burn through money as it attempted to reach its production milestone of 5,000 Model 3’s a week. Tesla now says that it expects to produce 10,000 Model 3’s per week by “sometime next year.”
The company said that it expects to grow at a rapid pace and expects to achieve sustained quarterly profits. “We expect to generate positive cash including operating cash flows and capital expenditures,” Tesla said in a statement.
The company laid off nine percent of its workforce in the second quarter as it attempted to become profitable. Tesla has never posted an annual profit and has only had two profitable quarters since going public in 2010.
During last month’s quarterly conference call, Musk dismissed analysts that questioned the production of Model 3 cars.
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