PALO ALTO, Calif., April 5 (UPI) -- Tesla Motors announced it broke a company record for the first quarter of 2015 by delivering 10,030 vehicles soon after West Virginia banned sales of its vehicles.
The record was broken through a 55 percent sales increase for the same period from the previous year. Tesla also announced it will deliver sales information three days after the end of each quarter, instead of waiting 40 days when the company is required to file them to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
"There may be small changes to this delivery count (usually well under 1 percent), as Tesla only counts a delivery if it is transferred to the end customer and all paperwork is correct," the company said in a statement. "Also, this is only one measure of our financial performance and should not be relied on as an indicator of our quarterly financial results, which depend on a variety of factors, including the cost of sales, foreign exchange movements and mix of directly leased vehicles."
The company expects to sell 55,000 cars in 2015, up from the 31,000 Teslas delivered the previous year.
Tesla has had trouble turning a profit in previous years, losing $294 million last year, $74 million in 2013 and $396 million in 2012. Tesla's first quarter financial report should be filed in May.
Direct sales of Tesla vehicles were banned in West Virginia on Friday by Democratic Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin after he signed a bill into law that stated an automaker may not "act in the capacity of a new motor vehicle dealer."
The bill was championed by Senate President Bill Cole, a car dealer in West Virginia and Kentucky. Tesla is banned from selling its vehicles directly to companies in at least four other states.
"Despite a campaign based on pro-business and free market principles, the Senate president's bill prevents competition and protects the car dealer monopoly," Tesla said in a statement. "West Virginians deserve the right to choose how and from whom they purchase their vehicles. We will return next year to fight for consumer choice and free market access."
