✅ Trusted source
General
Noticia
Tesla blames battery supply for flat sales, but its prices keep falling
Tesla attributes its lack of sales growth to battery availability. In its Q3 2026 shareholder letter, it states that battery availability “continued to be the limiting factor” in increasing vehicle volumes and that it ended the quarter with “the largest backlog for our passenger vehicles in four years,” without publishing a figure. Deliveries were 486,532 units, 2% fewer than a year earlier, and production was 464,391. The average selling price (ASP) fell year-over-year, even excluding currency effects.…
- Q3 2026 deliveries: 486,532 units, 2% fewer than the previous year.
- ASP fell year-over-year, even excluding currency effects.
- Global inventory dropped to 11 days of supply, from 27 days in Q1.
🔎 Why it matters: Tesla attributes its flat sales to batteries, but its Q3 2026 figures, with lower deliveries and a lower ASP, do not match a supply constraint.
📈 Upside: Tesla is increasing 4680 cell production to support the ramps of Cybercab, Semi and higher Model Y volumes.
📉 Risk: Tesla decides how cells are allocated between customers, its owned fleet, Megapack, Cybercab and Semi, which may divert supply from passenger vehicle deliveries.
🤖 Editorial summary of the cited source, with AI-assisted analysis -- not HgYperDrive original reporting. The original source is linked above for verification. More on how this works: editorial policy →