EVwire brief: Tesla delivered 486,532 vehicles in the third quarter of 2026, edging past Q2's 480,126. Production came in at 464,391, and Tesla deployed 13.7 GWh of energy storage.
Model 3 and Model Y made up 478,237 of the deliveries. Other Models, now essentially the Cybertruck after Model S and Model X production ended, added 8,295 deliveries against 7,004 produced. About 1% of deliveries were subject to operating lease accounting.
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The 13.7 GWh of storage deployments is a touch above Q2's 13.5 GWh and second only to the 14.2 GWh record Tesla set in Q4 2025. Deliveries outpaced production by about 22,000 vehicles, the second straight quarter Tesla has drawn down the inventory it built up in Q1.
As observed by Tesla watcher Sawyer Merritt, this is Tesla’s strongest quarter of deliveries since the EV federal tax credit expired. This is also Tesla’s third strongest quarter, after Q3 2025, which saw 497,099 deliveries, and Q4 2024, which saw 495,570. Both Q3 2025 and Q4 2024 had the US federal tax credit.
Tesla will post its full Q3 2026 financial results after market close on Wednesday, October 21, followed by a live Q&A webcast at 4:30 p.m. Central Time (5:30 p.m. Eastern Time).
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Context:
The quarter lands about 2% below Tesla's all-time record in Q3 2025, when US buyers rushed to beat the federal tax credit's expiration. That was the comparison our Q2 2026 delivery report pointed to as the tough one heading into this quarter.
Through the first nine months of 2026, Tesla has now delivered 1,324,681 vehicles, combining Q1's 358,023, Q2's 480,126 and Q3's 486,532. Q3 deliveries were also up about 36% from Q1.
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