Tesla deliveries rise in third quarter in comparison to last year; Model 3 hit by production bottlenecks

Luxury electric vehicle maker **Tesla** Inc said on Monday its deliveries rose 4.5 percent in the third quarter from the prior-year period, but said “production bottlenecks” had left the company behind its planned ramp-up for the new **Model 3** mass-market sedan. [caption id=“attachment_3925541” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Tesla logo. Reuters.[/caption] Tesla said it delivered 26,150 vehicles in the third quarter, including 14,065 **Model S** vehicles and 11,865 **Model X** cars, up 17.7 percent from the second quarter of this year. The Palo Alto, California-based company delivered just 220 Model 3 sedans and produced 260 during the quarter. In July, it began production of the Model 3, which starts at $35,000 — half the starting price of the Model S. Tesla had said in its second-quarter financial report that it expects “to achieve a rate of 5,000 Model 3 vehicles per week by the end of 2017.” The automaker also said it expects at some point in 2018 to further ramp to a rate of “10,000 Model 3 vehicles per week,” and an annual production rate in excess of 500,000 vehicles. “It is important to emphasize that there are no fundamental issues with the Model 3 production or supply chain,” Tesla said in a statement. “We understand what needs to be fixed and we are confident of addressing the manufacturing bottleneck issues in the near term.” Tesla said it was on track to deliver around 100,000 S and X models this year. But Tesla said on Monday that a handful of systems at its Fremont, California, car plant and its battery factory in Reno, Nevada, “have taken longer to activate than expected.” The automaker said 4,820 Model S and X vehicles were in transit to customers at the end of the third quarter and would be counted with its fourth-quarter figures.