Tesla saw its deliveries fall 4.9 percent in the second quarter but the company's shares rose as the automaker sold more vehicles than expected in a period hit by coronavirus lockdowns.
The delivery numbers come a day after Tesla became the highest-valued automaker, surpassing the market capitalization of former front-runner Toyota.
Tesla said Thursday it delivered 90,650 vehicles during the quarter, compared with 95,365 in the same period last year. Still, its sales beat Wall Street estimates of 74,130 vehicles, according to Refinitiv data. It delivered 80,050 units of its new Model Y crossover and Model 3 for the quarter.
"A 90k delivery number in this COVID lockdown environment is a jaw dropper," Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives said in a note.
Shares of Tesla closed Thursday's trading up 8 percent to $1,208.66.
Earlier this week, CEO Elon Musk in an internal email called on employees to work hard to allow Tesla to break even in the quarter despite the coronavirus crisis.
"While our main factory in Fremont was shut down for much of the quarter, we have successfully ramped production back to prior levels," the automaker said in a statement.
During the period from April to June, much of United States was under government imposed stay-at-home orders to combat the spread of the virus, which impacted production and caused a plunge in auto sales.
The lockdown resulted in shutdown of production at Tesla's only U.S. vehicle factory in California for more than six weeks from the end of March to early May.
The company did not break out deliveries by model or country, but Chinese vehicle registrations showed accelerating consumer demand for the Model 3 sedan. Nearly 16,200 Teslas were registered in China in April and May combined, with June figures still outstanding.
Tesla also is ramping up output at its Shanghai vehicle factory, where it aims to produce 150,000 vehicles by the end of this year. The Shanghai plant was only briefly impacted by coronavirus shutdowns in late January and early February.
Other major automakers posted lower U.S. monthly or quarterly new vehicle sales due in large part to weak fleet orders, but said consumer demand remained robust despite the continuing coronavirus pandemic.
Automotive News contributed to this report.
