Tesla beats losing spell

Tesla has broken a 13-quarter streak of losses to post a NZ$30 million net income for the third quarter, reports Automotive News. The electric car company attributed the gains to record production, deliveries and revenue. Tesla says it delivered 24,500 cars in the third quarter, putting it on track to meet its goal of 50,000 vehicle sales in the second half of 2016. A significant part of Tesla’s third quarter revenue came from its sale of pollution credits sold to other carmakers. The company booked NZ$194 million in sales, up from NZ$54 million a year ago. Tesla says it expects the revenue from those credits to decline in the fourth quarter, as carmakers see increased sales from electric vehicles. However, Tesla chief executive Elon Musk says the company can maintain its net income for the fourth quarter without the credits, as the company is increasing vehicle profit margins and has increased production of the Model S P100D. “Expect gross margins to increase, that’s a huge factor. We’re using very few prototype parts and have had a bunch of design improvements and design cut-downs.” The company’s also saw a jump in its quarterly revenue, which more than doubled compared with the same period last year, up to NZ$3.2 billion from NZ$1.3 billion last year.