Model Y Production Already Underway, Tesla Claims

Tesla’s fourth-quarter 2019 earning report, released Wednesday night, gave analysts and investors what they’d been looking for. In the midst of a global production ramp-up, the electric automaker posted a second consecutive quarterly profit ⁠— offering compelling news about a new model in the process.

That vehicle is the Model Y, a Model 3-based compact crossover that’s apparently already rolling off the assembly line in Fremont, California.

Slated to reach customers by the end of the first quarter, the Model Y is ahead of schedule. Previously, the automaker pegged fall 2020 for the first deliveries.

There was more information about the Model Y buried in the report. Tesla CEO Elon Musk claims his engineers have tweaked the AWD version, positioned as the volume choice, to travel an extra 35 miles before requiring a recharge. That model’s EPA range is now 315 miles, up from 280.

Pulling back, Tesla reported 367,500 deliveries in 2019, up by half over 2018’s tally. The fourth quarter of last year saw 112,000 Tesla vehicles reach customers, helped along by the early completion of its Shanghai Gigafactory. The current year, Tesla said, will see it “comfortably exceed 500,000 units.”

Wall Street walked away happy after the company’s earnings per share ($2.14) beat expectations ($1.72). Overall, the company’s net profit in Q4 was $105 million, down from the same quarter a year earlier. A far greater percentage of cheaper Model 3s in its sales mix saw automotive revenues rise just 1 percent in 2019, though increased production, combined with the addition of the slightly more expensive Model Y, gives the automaker confidence that 2020 will see revenues soar.

The company’s planned Berlin-Brandenburg assembly plant won’t see production start until 2021. Everything should be in place for a Model Y ramp-up in Fremont by the middle of the year, Tesla said, and construction is apparently underway to add the product to its Shanghai plant.

As for actual product, the Model 3 deliveries rose 46 percent last year as the aging Model S and X saw their combined tally fall 29 percent.

Not surprisingly, Tesla’s stock soared in after-market trading, rising as much as 13 percent.

[Image: Aleksei Potov/Shutterstock, Tesla]