Tesla sales rise but fall short of expectations 

NEW YORK

Tesla's summertime deliveries of electric vehicles surged 27 percent from last year but still fell below analyst projections as Elon Musk's car company navigated through softening customer demand as well as factory upgrades.

The automaker sold 435,059 vehicles during the July-to-September period. Analysts had predicted Tesla would sell about 461,000 vehicles during the latest quarter.

As usual, Tesla's sales consisted primarily of its Model 3 and Model Y vehicles.

The third-quarter sales also marked a step back from Tesla's 466,140 vehicle deliveries during the April-to-June period.

The company blamed the sequential sales decline on planned downtime to upgrade its factories.

Tesla said it made 430,488 vehicles in the latest quarter, slightly below the number it delivered.

Despite large price cuts, sales of the aging models S and X fell 14 percent year-on-year to 15,985.

The company will need a big finish to 2023 to realize CEO Musk's stated goal of increasing its sales by 50 percent annually.

To hit that target, Tesla will have to sell 1.97 million vehicles this year. Analysts are anticipating Tesla will sell 1.84 million vehicles for the full year.

Tesla has been slashing prices most of this year to keep attracting buyers who now have a wider selection of electric vehicles as more automakers shift away from gasoline-powered cars and trucks. The discounts range from $4,400 on Tesla's top-selling vehicles to as much as $20,000 on its most expensive models.