AUSTIN, Texas — Tesla closed the third quarter on a high note, reporting 486,532 vehicle deliveries and handily beating Wall Street's expectations.
The total topped the company-compiled analyst consensus of 461,974 by roughly 24,500 vehicles, according to Electrek's breakdown of the report. It also edged up 1.3% from the 480,126 vehicles delivered in the second quarter, and it beat every individual estimate on the Street's list.
Demand Outran Production
Tesla built 464,391 vehicles in the quarter, which means it delivered about 22,000 more cars than it produced. It is the second straight quarter in which the company has worked down inventory, and across Q2 and Q3 it has now cleared the roughly 50,000 excess vehicles built in the first quarter.
The Model 3 and Model Y did the heavy lifting with 478,237 deliveries. Other models, which include the Cybertruck and Semi, added 8,295. That fits with the momentum Tesla showed ahead of the print, when the company's showrooms sold out as the quarter closed.
Still Ahead for the Year
The comparison with last year is a demanding one. Tesla set its all-time record of 497,099 deliveries in Q3 2025, when buyers rushed to claim a federal tax credit before it expired, so a 2.1% year-over-year dip is modest against that backdrop. For the year so far, Tesla has delivered 1,324,681 vehicles through three quarters, up 8.8% from the same point in 2025.
