Tesla Inc sought to squash any speculation it might need to raise more capital this year, driving the company's battered shares higher as it announced it built 2,020 of its cheaper Model 3 sedans in the last seven days. Tesla shares jumped as much as 6.9 percent in morning trade, recouping a third of its losses from a week dominated by bad news about its credit rating and a crash involving a car using its semi-autonomous driving technology.
But with the company again missing its own 2,500 target for weekly production at the end of the first quarter, doubts remained among analysts and fund managers about Tesla's ability to keep production growing to a promised 5,000 Model 3s per week in three months time.
The Model 3 is the most affordable of Tesla's cars to date and is the only one capable of transforming the niche automaker into a mass producer amid a sea of rivals entering the nascent electric vehicle market.
"(Tesla is) laying the groundwork for Q3 to have the long-sought ideal combination of high volume, good gross margin and strong positive operating cash flow," the company said in the filing. "As a result, Tesla does not require an equity or debt raise this year, apart from standard credit lines."
Some analysts said there were signs that the company might have prioritised the cheaper car, seen as crucial to its profitability, over its Model X SUV and more-established and expensive Model S sedan.
First-quarter deliveries totalled 29,980 vehicles, out of which 11,730 were Model S and 10,070 were Model X. Both were lower from the previous quarter and the first quarter a year ago.
While Tesla had promised to reach 2,500 cars per week in the first quarter which ended March 31, the Model 3 weekly numbers it gave were for the seven days to April 2. Tesla declined to give production figures for the week to March 31.
Musk himself has taken direct control of Model 3 production and the company says it already has about 500,000 advance reservations from customers for the car.
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