The press release notes that Tesla has switched from producing mainly rear wheel drive Model 3s to dual motor drives over the course of Q3. It appears that, while it's easier to produce rear-wheel drive cars due to lower technological complexity, consumer demand is much higher for all-wheel drive versions. It will remain to be seen if Tesla can keep up the production pace when the focus is on these more complicated vehicles, especially considering the company missed its weekly production goal numbers. Tesla announced that it was planning on producing 6,000 Model 3s per week by the end of August, but this report makes it clear that they were at 5,300 per week.

While this is good news for Tesla, the company is still plagued by issues with its vehicle production, delivery and maintenance. The New York Times reports there are unexplained parking lots full of new Teslas at random locations across the US; while the company claims that these are a staging ground for consumer delivery, further investigation reveals they are likely unsold vehicles, some of which are the afore mentioned, low-demand rear-wheel drive Model 3s.

Many are also reportedly damaged vehicles that need to be repaired before they can be sold or delivered. Tesla has run into trouble with repairs because there are few spare parts on hand. This also signals there may be quality control issues for cars in production. Additionally, the actual physical delivery had been another logistical issue the company has seemed ill-prepared for. And let's not even get into the recent settlement with the SEC over Elon Musk's privatization tweet. The good news is that production seems to be on track; let's hope the company gets the rest of these issues ironed out soon.