What's going on?

On Sunday, the electric carmaker Tesla said that its second-quarter sales rose 25% as it delivered 14,370 cars � but that fell well short of the 17,000 that it had said it would deliver. It�s the latest example of Tesla struggling to hit its production targets (we�ll see how it impacts the stock when it opens for trading on Tuesday).

What does this mean?

Tesla has a habit of undershooting its production targets. That�s important because Tesla has pre-sold a lot of cars, but (apart from a small deposit) it only gets paid once it actually delivers the cars. And since Tesla spends so much money, it needs the income to help cover costs � or it will have to return to investors to ask for more cash even more quickly than expected. There is also a question of credibility: if Tesla can�t accurately forecast its own sales for an upcoming quarter, then what are investors to make of its claims that it will be producing 500,000 cars by 2018?

Why should I care?

For the stock: As they say in Canada, it�s time to put the puck in the net (remember, Elon Musk is half-Canadian�). Investors have spent a lot of money funding Tesla (it�s currently worth about $30 billion). Hundreds of thousands of customers have paid $1,000 deposits for its cars. And the company is spending a lot of cash. That means it�s crunch time for Tesla�s production now.

The bigger picture: A fatal crash last week highlighted some of the challenges with autonomous vehicles. A Tesla car being driven under �assisted driving conditions� crashed in Florida last week. While of course a tragic incident, it was a reminder to all in the industry of the difficulties of incorporating autonomous cars on roads alongside regular vehicles.