New data: Tesla produced 2,425 of its mainstream-priced Model 3 sedans in the fourth quarter of 2017 and delivered 1,550 of the vehicles, the company said today. Wall Street was unimpressed, sending down Tesla shares by 2% in after-hours trading.
The jump in output follows a disappointing third quarter for the much-heralded car unveiled last year. Tesla produced just 260 in Q3, badly missing its goal of 1,500.
"During Q4, we made major progress addressing Model 3 production bottlenecks, with our production rate increasing significantly towards the end of the quarter," the company said in its latest quarterly update for the production and delivery of its various vehicles released Wednesday afternoon.
Why it matters: Tesla's ability to address what CEO Elon Musk has called "production hell" and churn out the Model 3 at scale is vital for the company's future in the increasingly competitive EV market. But the drop in its share price suggests that the market cannot forget that Musk had originally promised to deliver 5,000 Model 3s a week by the end of 2017.
Velodyne said it will sell its workhorse Lidar sensor—used widely in autonomous car programs—for $4,000, half the previous price. The cut, which does not affect the company's high-end sensor, comes as the Lidar pioneer faces increasing competition.
Why it matters: The sensor—called the VLP-16—is the most popular Lidar system on the market. Robo-taxi startup Zoox uses multiple VLP-16s on its car, and Apple reportedly has installed at least six on its experimental vehicle. But competition is fierce—Ouster recently offered its high-end 64-channel Lidar model at $12,000, one-seventh the price of Velodyne's rival $85,000 system.
