Elon Musk says Tesla has now produced 1 million electric vehicles

Tesla has produced 1 million electric vehicles, according to the firm’s CEO Elon Musk, who congratulated the “Tesla team” on the milestone via a tweet.

News of the landmark figure came after Tesla shares dropped by over 13% yesterday, amid continuing concerns about the coronavirus outbreak and a steep drop in oil prices. The Nasdaq Composite index, on which Tesla is listed, fell 7.3 percent on the day. In extended hours trading Tuesday, Tesla shares were over 10% higher.

Currently, Tesla offers four models of electric vehicle: the Model 3 and Model S, which are sedans, and the Model Y and Model X, which are types of SUV. Deliveries of the Model Y are due to start by the end of this quarter.

Musk’s announcement comes at a time when several large automakers are making moves into the electric vehicle sector.

Last week, the BMW Group released details of an electric concept car, the BMW Concept i4. Production of that vehicle is expected to start in 2021.

Towards the end of last year, the German company announced that 500,000 of its electrified cars had been sold. At the time, CEO Oliver Zipse said that the business “was stepping up the pace significantly” and aiming to have one million electric vehicles on the road “within two years.”

And in November 2019, the Volkswagen Group officially started series production of its ID.3 electric car, with the German carmaker planning to launch “almost 70 new electric models” on its platform by 2028.

China’s electric car market is the biggest on the planet: a little over one million electric cars were sold there in 2018, according to the IEA, with Europe and the U.S. following behind.