Tesla Delivers 11,500 Cars in Q2

The company has said that it plans to deliver about 55,000 vehicles in 2015, including the new Model X sport utility vehicle (SUV), which Tesla expects to begin delivering to customers in the third quarter. The company noted in its announcement that the second quarter total may change by less than 1% due to the way it counts deliveries.

If Tesla can increase deliveries by about 1,000 in each of the next two quarters, it will deliver about 46,000 to 47,000 units in 2015. In order to reach its announced goal, the company will have to do better — a lot better.

Last November, Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, said that 2015 deliveries of 23,000 of the SUVs were “essentially sold out of 2015.” Recent reports from visitors to the company’s Fremont, Calif., plant indicate that Tesla has three or four more robots working on the Model X production line than on the Model S line. If the company can produce several thousand SUVs without slowing down its sedan production, the 55,000 goal should be in the bag.

The Model X has been especially attractive to female buyers. Musk has said that more than half of the reservations for the SUV have come from women. The company has said that the Model X was designed and engineered with women buyers in mind.

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Tesla has pinned its hopes for this year on the Model X. If the company stumbles on getting the SUV deliveries out the door, investors may lose some of their stratospheric interest in the company.

Tesla’s stock traded up about 4% in Thursday’s premarket, at $279.50 in a 52-week range of $181.40 to $291.42. The consensus price target on the shares is $277 and the high price target is $400.