Tesla has reported a quarterly profit for just the third time in its 15-year history.
The electric car-maker made a record $311.5m (£241m) in the three months to 30 September, as the pace of its car deliveries accelerated. The result is a victory for chief executive Elon Musk, who had promised a profit to investors earlier this year.
Normally we’d tell investors to avoid reading too deeply into a single quarter’s numbers, but this quarter really counted at Tesla,
he said.
Tesla, which has never reported an annual profit, had been under particular strain after it ramped up spending for its launch of the Model 3, its newest car aimed at a wider market.
Following a surge of orders last year, it struggled to meet manufacturing targets and deliver cars to customers.
That prompted concerns about Tesla’s finances and resulted in customers getting impatient and cancelling their orders.
However, less than a fifth of the roughly 455,000 reservations the firm reported in 2017 have been cancelled. Production has also picked up, driving sales. Tesla made more than 80,000 vehicles in the period, of which more than 60% were Model 3s.
The increase lifted revenue to $6.8bn in the quarter, more than double a year ago.