You’d think that Tesla would sell far fewer units of its pricier, slightly frumpier-looking Model X SUV than its mainstay Model S sedan, but that’s not the case these days. The electric car maker has revealed its production levels for the first quarter of 2017, and it’s apparent that the gap has closed dramatically in recent months. Tesla delivered about 11,550 Model X vehicles at the start of the year, or just 1,900 shy of the 13,450 Model S cars that found owners in the same period. It’s a stark contrast to a year earlier, when Tesla supplied 12,420 sedans and just 2,400 SUVs — buyers clearly are clearly willing to trade a bit of cash and style for some extra capacity.
The kicker: the gap might have been even narrower in ideal conditions. Tesla notes that there were “severe” Model X part shortages in the first two months of 2017, and that it just didn’t have the time to ship every last example to customers in the period. To put it another way: expect a big bump in Model X numbers during the spring.
As it stands, this was still a banner quarter for Tesla. The company’s rapidly increasing production goals led it to set yet another delivery record, with 69 percent more EVs trading hands versus a year earlier. With that said, there’s just a few months to go before Tesla starts Model 3 production. However well the Model S and X are doing right now, they’re going to seem like small potatoes before long.
