Tesla delivered 486,532 vehicles in the third quarter of 2026. The company’s own survey of analysts had pointed to 461,974, so the result beat that consensus by about 24,600 cars.
It was still short of last year. Deliveries ran 2.1 percent below the 497,099 handed over in the third quarter of 2025, though they rose 1.3 percent from 480,126 in the second quarter. Estimates cited by MarketWatch from FactSet had predicted a year-over-year drop of about 7 percent. Tesla held the fall to roughly 2 percent.
Shares closed at $370.59 on October 2, up 4.7 percent on the day. Reuters reported the stock had gained more than 5 percent earlier in trading once the figures came out.
What Tesla sold
The Model 3 and Model Y did nearly all the work, with 478,237 deliveries. Every other model combined came to 8,295. Production reached 464,391 vehicles. In energy storage, Tesla deployed 13.7 gigawatt-hours, under the 15.9 GWh analysts had expected.
BYD pulls further ahead
The comparison with BYD is less comfortable for Tesla. According to data compiled by CnEVPost, BYD sold 762,478 battery-electric passenger vehicles in the quarter, up nearly 31 percent from a year earlier and 37 percent from the second quarter. That put it about 275,946 battery-electric vehicles ahead of Tesla.
The figures need a caveat. Tesla reports deliveries of its own cars, while BYD’s wider new-energy vehicle category includes plug-in hybrids as well as battery-electric models. Counting both types, BYD sold 1.32 million vehicles in the quarter, with total sales up 18.8 percent from a year earlier.
September alone brought 463,561 new-energy vehicle sales, BYD’s best month of 2026. Reuters reported that its overseas shipments of passenger vehicles and pickups jumped 153.9 percent year over year to 179,877 in September.
Next: the earnings report
Tesla stock entered October under pressure after a volatile year. Investors are watching its plans for robotaxis, AI, robotics and energy storage, which the car business has to help pay for. The company reports full third-quarter results on October 21, with vehicle margins, revenue, cash flow and spending on those new businesses all due for a first look.
