Model Y

Make
Tesla
Segment
SUV

Those who thought Tesla could soon lose its status as the world's most valuable automaker couldn't be more wrong. Since beating out Toyota for that title last summer, Tesla has been on a roll and it's continuing in 2021. For the first three months of the year, Tesla posted record deliveries despite the many challenges automakers continue to face as the world tries to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic. It also defied Wall Street expectations.

"We are encouraged by the strong reception of the Model Y in China and are quickly progressing to full production capacity," Tesla said in an official statement. "The new Model S and Model X have also been exceptionally well received… and we are in the early stages of ramping production."

A total of over 184,000 vehicles were delivered in Q1. Analysts initially predicted that figure to be close to 178,000. To compare, Q1 2021 exceeds Q4 2020's also impressive 180,570 deliveries even though Tesla shut down its Freemont, California plant for two days in February because of parts shortages. The stock market is already responding to Tesla exceeding expectations.

Wedbush analyst, Dan Ives, one of Wall Street's highest-rated analysts, believes Tesla's stock is looking particularly bullish. "While the EV sector and Tesla shares have been under significant pressure so far this year, we believe the tide is turning on the Street and the eye-popping delivery numbers coming out of China cannot be ignored."

Based on existing data, Ives sees total 2021 Tesla sales exceeding 850,000 vehicles. This could be aided by the Biden administration's newly-announced plan to increase electric vehicle sales thanks to additional subsidies. China will continue to be a major market for Tesla as Model 3 and Model Y production will surely crank up at the Shanghai Gigafactory to meet domestic demand.

Back in the US, construction continues on the Austin, Texas Gigafactory that's expected to begin building the highly anticipated Tesla Cybertruck later this year. In Europe, the Berlin Gigafactory, the future home of the Model 3 and Y, is also being built at a relatively rapid pace.