Tesla misses one Model 3 goal, hits another, faces stiff Chinese tariff

Tesla missed its weekly Model 3 production target on Tuesday and said it was facing a 40 percent import tariff in China due to the ongoing U.S-China trade war.

The electric car maker said it was speeding up construction of its Shanghai factory as it seeks to combat the hefty tariffs.

Tesla produced over 5,300 Model 3 cars in the last week of September, falling short of its target of 6,000.

Overall in the third quarter, the company produced 53,239 Model 3 sedans, in line with its target of 50,000 to 55,000 of them, and delivered 55,840 of the vehicles to customers.

The company’s shares were up nearly 2 percent $316.79 in trading before the bell.

The Model 3 sedan is key to the money-losing company’s growth and profit plans and underpins its goal of eventually becoming a mass-production automaker.

“With production stabilized, delivery and outbound vehicle logistics were our main challenges during Q3,” the company said in a statement.

Tesla first met a long-held target of 5,000 vehicles per week at the end of June after a series of production bottlenecks and delays. Since then the company has been striving to sustain and increase that level.

Including its flagship Model S and X vehicles, Tesla produced a total of 80,142 vehicles in the quarter and delivered 83,500.

Tesla has said it will deliver about 100,000 Model S and X vehicles in 2018.

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