According to an email obtained by CNBC, on Friday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk urged staff to reduce the cost of customer deliveries, rather than rushing orders out to hit the company’s end of quarter sales goals. The email comes amid ongoing rising shipping costs.
2021 has seen Tesla struggle to deliver new vehicles to customers in the US in line with the dates originally promised. Some Tesla customers have experienced delivery delays of months, seeing them left to pay out of pocket for rental vehicles or taxi services. However, it is not only Tesla customers who have been subject to delays. Last week, Rivian Automotive notified customers who had reserved their R1S sports utility vehicle that there would be delays with delivery.
Nonetheless, sales have still grown for Tesla in 2021. During the first three quarters of the year, Tesla reported deliveries of 627,350 vehicles.
While Tesla has not provided a clear target for vehicle deliveries in 2021, it did state a loose guide for “50% average annual growth in vehicle deliveries.” At the beginning of 2021, at least seven Wall Street analysts predicted that the company would deliver between 750,000 and 850,000 vehicles in the year.
