Tesla’s car shipments grew by 50 percent last year

In the fourth quarter alone, Tesla broke its records by producing almost 105,000 vehicles and delivering 112,000 vehicles. Much of that success can be attributed to the Model 3 sedan’s popularity. In Q4, Tesla delivered 92,500 Model 3s — a 46 percent increase over the final quarter of 2018 — and 19,450 Model S/X.

Earlier in 2019, Tesla said it hoped to deliver 360,000 to 400,000 cars by the end of the year. The company did reach that goal, but it was on the low end. Still, this suggests that the market for Teslas is growing and that the company has worked out some production kinks.

That trend should continue as Tesla begins delivering the first Model 3s made in its Shanghai Gigafactory 3. It says the factory has already produced nearly 1,000 customer salable cars, and it has demonstrated a production run-rate capability of more than 3,000 units per week — excluding local battery pack production.

Tesla also plans to manufacture its Model Y crossovers at the plant, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk previously said he expects the Model Y to outsell the S, X and 3 combined. There’s also the Cybertruck, which already has more than 200,000 deposits.

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