Delivery day for Tesla’s multibillion-dollar China move, as Shanghai factory employees take first cars home
- The electric-car maker handed over the first 15 Model 3 sedans assembled at its new plant to company employees
- After what CEO Elon Musk described as a period of ‘production hell’, the carmaker’s stock has been on a tear, up 62 per cent since reporting a surprise profit in October
After reaching that milestone more than two years ago, Tesla went through months of what Musk called “production hell”. After consistently falling well short of its chief executive officer’s ambitious targets, the electric-car maker burned through billions of dollars and came within weeks of running out of money.
Investors have been betting this time will be different, with Tesla shares on a tear since the company reported a surprise quarterly profit in late October. The carmaker is on much steadier footing, having worked out the kinks that limited initial production of the Model 3 and managing to far outpace sales of many other carmakers’ electric vehicles. The China plant is already assembling more than 1,000 cars a week, and aims to double that rate over the next year, according to Song Gang, the manufacturing director at the facility.
We believe much more successful penetration is baked into the stock than is likely to play out
‘Over Exuberance’