Electric car maker Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) beat expectations by delivering just over 25,000 cars in the first three months of the year, a 70 percent increase on the same quarter last year.
Analysts had expected a figure of between 23,000 and 24,000, after Tesla took a production hit in the last quarter. The figure puts the company on the right track to deliver their target of 50,000 cars in the first half of 2017.
This year is likely to be an expensive year for the company, who are launching their new Model 3 in the US later this year. Marketed as its most affordable car yet, it will go on sale for $35,000 and has a waiting list of about 400,000 people so far, who have each put down a $1,000 reservation fee.
Tesla raised more than $1.2 billion in a stock and debt sale last month to help fund costs related to producing the Model 3, Tesla’s first widely affordable electric car, and were given a boost by the sale of a 5 percent stake in the company to China’s Tencent Holdings.
Tesla shares are currently trading flat, up 0.14 percent at 278.30 (0941GMT).