Tesla's (NASDAQ: TSLA) third-quarter earnings report didn't solicit any confidence from investors. Shares fell as Tesla said its Model 3 production ramp-up is running about three months behind.
Despite Tesla's obvious challenges in ramping up its Model 3 production, CEO Elon Musk and company remained confident in the long-term growth story during the third-quarter earnings call. Musk challenged the skeptics, said Tesla could become the world's largest car company, and expressed how demand for its solar products is about to rebound.
Here's a closer look at some of Musk's latest musings.
Model 3. Image source: Tesla.
Elon Musk trolls the skeptics
The biggest news in Tesla's third-quarter earnings release was management's reduced outlook for Model 3 production. It delayed its target for achieving a production rate of 5,000 units a week from an initial timeline of the end of the year to an updated forecast for late Q1 of next year. Musk knew this would bring out the critics, and he had a word for them in his opening remarks (by way of an S&P Global Market Intelligence transcript).
Five years ago, we had only delivered 2,500 cars. So our -- the Tesla fleet has grown by a factor of 100 in five years. ... But for the skeptics out there, I'd like to say -- ask them, which one of you predicted that Tesla would go from 2,500 units delivered to 250,000 units delivered now? I suspect the answer is zero, right? So consider your assumptions for the future on whether they're valid or perhaps pessimistic.
Musk is still thinking big... really big
Despite running about three months behind on Tesla's initial plans for the Model 3, Musk continues to toss around optimistic statements about extraordinary growth.
Referring to Tesla's rapidly rising weekly vehicle production since the Model S launched, Musk commented, "If our growth rate continues at anything like that in the coming years, I mean, if it continues to be something like that, Tesla will be the largest car company in the world by volume as well."
Tesla's president of sales and service, Jon McNeill, added that growth has accelerated with subsequent product launches. "Model X reached Model S demand rates in half the time," McNeill said, "So at twice the rate of demand build. So not only are we growing, but we're accelerating as we grow."
Tesla said it had received record orders for the Model S and X during its third quarter. And it also said its hundreds of thousands of Model 3 reservations continued to increase.