What's going on?

Tesla announced over the weekend that it delivered a record number of cars last quarter, and it�s heard rumors that records are even bigger in the Lone Star state.

What does this mean?

Tesla was up against it last quarter: the EV maker�s all-important Shanghai factory had to shut down in March after Covid outbreaks forced the region into lockdown. And that�s on top of the shortage of chips and parts that continues to hobble companies far and wide. Fortunately, the Tesla name carries more weight than your garden variety carmaker: it was able to use its sheer industry presence to wangle the parts from suppliers it needed to keep production going. That might be why Tesla delivered a better-than-expected 310,000 cars last quarter ��68% more than the same time last year and a new quarterly record.

Why should I care?

The bigger picture: Build, build, build.
Still, analysts reckon those supply issues stopped Tesla from delivering as many as 25,000 EVs last quarter ��all of which still need to be shipped out in the near future. And given that its Shanghai factory workers� hands are tied for the foreseeable future, the EV maker will be hoping its new German factory � which opened its doors last month � will help it pick up the slack. It�s also due to open a factory in Texas later this week, and it�s rumored to have more in the pipeline to help it make the most of mammoth demand.

Zooming out: Elon�s branching out.
Elon has been a busy boy: news broke on Monday that the Tesla CEO has built up a nearly 10% stake in Twitter � a revelation that�s come hot on the heels of speculation that he might start his own social media platform (tweet this). Investors, then, reckon he could take on a bigger role in � if not end up completely buying out � Twitter, and they seemed to like the idea: they sent the social media company�s shares up 26% on the news.