What's going on?

Shares of electric car maker Tesla jumped 5% on Wednesday after the company revealed that it delivered more cars last quarter than investors had predicted. Shocking…

What does this mean?

Tesla and its investors have a tricky relationship: the company often sets itself ambitious targets which it then misses. So investors were understandably skeptical regarding Tesla�s plans to deliver 90-100,000 vehicles in the second quarter, instead forecasting 88,000. But thanks to more overseas orders from Europe and China, as well as a vanishing tax credit that may have pumped up US purchasing, Tesla delivered 95,000 cars � its most ever in a single quarter (tweet this).

Why should I care?

The bigger picture: Some grands prix in a slowing autos market.

Car sales in the US fell 2% in the first half of 2019 and are expected to decline for the year as a whole. As economic growth slows, consumers tend to spend less on big-ticket items. General Motors and Fiat Chrysler both reported shrinking US sales for the first six months of the year late on Tuesday � although sales of Fiat�s Ram trucks picked up in June and may set the company up for a better second half. There were no such green shoots for Japanese automakers Nissan, Honda, and Toyota, however. And in the German luxury motor melee, BMW�s got the beating of Daimler: it emerged from three years in the Mercedes-Benz maker�s slipstream to outsell its rival�s SUVs last month.

For markets: Investors strap in.

Tesla�s stock rose thanks to investors� buying. They likely expect the opposite of Tesla�s first quarter: more deliveries than forecast should translate into greater revenue and a smaller loss than thought. Tesla also claims that it�s got a backlog of orders which�ll keep sales ticking over. Any additional cash in the door � combined with the money recently raised from investors � should help Tesla avoid any crashes and weather clashes with rivals� competing cars. Volkswagen and Jaguar are just two growing in the rear-view mirror…