TEXAS: Tesla Inc. boss Elon Musk doubled down on the price war he started at the end of last year, saying the electric car maker will prioritize sales growth ahead of profit in the weak economy.
The Tesla company posted its knee-high quarterly gross margin in two years, missing international market estimates, as it slashed prices aggressively in different markets including the China and US to spur demand and fend off increasing competition.
Shares in the Austin, Texas-based automaker were down 6 percent in after-hours trading.
Musk’s stance
Elon Musk said, “It’s nice to shift the huge number of cars at a lower margin and harvest that margin in the future as we have good autonomy.”
He said that although the economy remained uncertain, the electric car maker’s orders exceeded production.
Musk earlier said he would have liked to attain 2 million car deliveries this year but decreased to reiterate that but stood by the company’s official target of 1.8 million deliveries.
An analyst Jesse Cohen said “Tesla’s industry worrying China sales dates indicate demand for its electric cars is slowing more than expected in the face of raising competition from local electric car firms,”
Tesla company said that it believed its operating profit remains the highest among large carmakers.
