【Future Sex (2018)】

Tesla is Future Sex (2018)not having a very good fall—and if you're waiting on a brand new Model 3, the next few months aren't looking good for you either.

The electric automaker has stumbled since it released the first 30 Model 3 vehicles at the end of July with ambitious plans to scale up its operations to pump out the "affordable" electric sedans to compete with much larger, more traditional car companies.

Since then, Tesla has dealt with highly publicized Model 3 production "bottlenecks" and delivered a paltry number of vehicles well below its targets, issued a recall, and fired hundreds of employees (which spawned a lawsuit). Now, with the release of its third quarter 2017 financials in a letter to investors, the automaker is reporting its worst quarterly loss in its history—a $619 million net loss.

Even worse for Tesla's fans: The automaker has pushed back its Model 3 manufacturing goals, now estimating that it won't ramp up production to the projected 5,000 vehicles per week until late March, according to CEO Elon Musk. He gave the new target date later on an earnings call, a full cycle later than originally planned.

Musk called the delay a "relatively small shift" and "immaterial" in Model 3's decade-long plan.

Still, the adjusted timeline means Tesla has to scale back in other areas. The automaker's other vehicles, the Model S and Model X, will be given less attention as the company shifts focus to getting the Model 3 up to speed. Tesla says it will produce 10 percent fewer Model S and X vehicles to reallocate resources to the Model 3, which Musk again donwnplayed on the earnings call.

On a positive note, Tesla reported that deliveries on the whole were up 18 percent year-over-year, with 26,137 Model S, X, and 3 deliveries during the period. The company also eclipsed 250,000 deliveries in total since its founding, a major milestone.

The company has some big news on the horizon, however, with its long awaited semi truck announcement scheduled for November 16. That event was pushed back because of the Model 3 bottlenecks, but also because Tesla is also working in Puerto Rico to help with hurricane recovery efforts.

The automaker might not have had a great fall, but it does have ambitious plans for the future. The key will be finding ways to actually follow through on Musk's audacious goals.