Tesla has likely already hit 500,000 deliveries this year...

It's the end of the year again and there is a familiar fervor of gossip surrounding Tesla regarding if they'll hit their delivery numbers, or fall short. And while anybody who considers what this year has been like wouldn't fault Tesla for missing the projections they set forth, recent news would suggest that as of the time of writing this that Tesla has accomplished the seemingly impossible.

A few days ago, in an email obtained by Electrek , Tesla CEO Elon Musk told employees that the automaker could still achieve their goal of 500,000 vehicle deliveries in 2020 but would need to 'go all out' to do so. In the email, Musk says that the goal is still achievable and encourages employees to push to the end and prove those that would doubt Tesla wrong.

“After today, we just have 5 days to go to achieve the historic milestone of 500,000 cars built and delivered.

Please go all out to make it happen. This is a great milestone to rally the company around achieving. All the critics who, as recently as two years ago said that we’d never make it, also called our target of half a million in 2020 “impossible”. The heck with them, we are doing it!

Particular help would be appreciated at end of the line to ensure cars built now are able to be delivered immediately without any further improvements in PDI, as there simply isn’t enough time to do so.

Hope everyone was able to spend some time with loved ones this holiday season and has an amazing 2021.
​
Elon”

This is exactly the type of email that we've come to expect at the end of each quarter and there isn't anything within it that really stands out. As a CEO of a highly visible company, what you say and how you say it can have a lot of meaning. In this case, the email gives the impression that everything is going according to plan and production and deliveries are on schedule. Maybe, it's more about what isn't said that is so illuminating. It doesn't sound like there are any fires to put out or that Tesla is having any issues at all. 

But here's the thing...

Tesla likely hit the "impossible" number of deliveries (or very close to it) when he sent this email. The reasoning behind that is speculative, but consider that Musk must have known before sending the email that it would be leaked. All of his end of quarter emails get leaked so why would this be any different? His word choice is very specific... "500,000 cars built and delivered." If he had any question about Tesla hitting the 500,000 deliveries number, he likely would have focused more on the production of vehicles, and left the word "delivered" out of it entirely. 

Additionally, he very specifically targeted Tesla haters by calling them out. Would he do this if there was ANY chance that Tesla wouldn't achieve this goal? It would be highly embarrassing to call out your critics and then miss the goal, proving them right. 

So yes, this is highly speculative, but it would be shocking after reading this email from Elon Musk if Tesla didn't smash through that 500,000 vehicles built and delivered.

What do you think? Have they hit it already? Or will they fall short? Let us know in the comment section below.