Tesla Motors just posted its first quarterly statement of the current year, and of particular interest is a reported $154 million in losses – about $1.22 per share.
Despite this, the big picture for the maker of electric cars looks surprisingly optimistic. Motor Trend reports that Tesla Motors posted revenue through the first quarter equaling $1.1 billion, marking a 55 percent increase from a year ago. Tesla Motors also reported production of the Model S sedan at 11,160 units, with 10,045 deliveries.
This puts the automaker somewhat behind in its goal of 55,000 deliveries taking place this year, but CEO Elon Musk remains confident that goal can be met. Tesla Motors anticipates somewhere around 12,500 units produced in the second quarter, again with between 10k and 11k deliveries taking place, and this is all still before the Model X will start production, on-schedule for Q3 of 2015. Labor hours per Model S sedan declined by about 20 percent over the quarter.
Forgive us for recycling a trite old English phrase, but the notion that “you have to spend money to make money” certainly seems to apply in the case of Tesla Motors. The automaker continues to pump money into development of the Model X crossover and, perhaps more notably, into its gargantuan battery Gigafactory project. Until that plant is up and running, some modest quarterly losses ought to be expected.
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