Tesla to ‘slow down’ on deliveries in Norway: Musk

Bloomberg

Elon Musk said Tesla Inc. will slow down deliveries in Norway, the automaker’s best market per capita, days before the electric-car maker is due to report quarterly sales that investors watch so closely.
Tesla’s CEO made the announcement in a Twitter message, in response to a report that local authorities had ordered trucks carrying Teslas off the road more than half a dozen times.
One truck not stopped by authorities ended up in an accident, which crushed two Model S vehicles on the trailer, according to the blog Electrek.
“It is clear that we are exceeding the local logistics capacity due to batch build and delivery,” Musk said.
“Customer happiness and safety matter more than a few extra cars this quarter.” The Palo Alto, California-based automaker switched the Norway ports it ships to, requiring the use of more trucks to get the cars to stores and service centers, the article said.
Norway is Tesla’s third-biggest market in the world after the US and China, with revenue from the country more than doubling to $823 million last year. The country exempts electric cars from purchase taxes and road tolls and has invested heavily in charging infrastructure.
Tesla is already facing difficulties in the rollout of its mass-market Model 3 vehicle, the linchpin of Musk’s plan to bring electric vehicles to the masses. Ramping up production has taken longer. Tesla is targeting a weekly Model 3 production rate of 2,500 sedans by the end of this month.