Everything Is Coming Up Roses For Tesla

Plenty of people predicted the demise of Tesla by now. Others thought the Model 3 would break the company. I’ll admit to having some doubts. But as things sit now, everything’s coming up roses for the California automaker.

Instead of struggling to meet the surge of Model 3 orders, Tesla is actually expanding its production facilities. Four more Gigafactories are in the works, with one in Buffalo, New York and the other sites TBA. Model 3 production is set to fire up in July, reaching 5,000 cars a week in September. That would mean the company makes 25,000-35,000 by the end of December. That’s not too shabby.

Tesla also just released Q4 2016 earnings, and they’re better than most analysts expected. Revenue was $2.28 billion. Vehicle deliveries in the fourth quarter went up 27 percent. First-half deliveries are being forecast at a 71 percent increase over last year.

All this, after the NHTSA ceased investigating Autopilot crashes. Things are going great for Tesla, and will probably continue that way as the Model 3 launches.