Shares of Tesla Motors shot up to $217 after the company said that it delivered 6,892 Model S electric sedans in the fourth quarter of 2013 and forecast that sales would soar 55 percent this year.
Tesla delivered 22,477 Model S electric sedans in 2013. Tesla sees Model S deliveries increasing to 7,400 in the first quarter, and hitting 35,000 total for 2014. This represents a 55 percent increase from 2013’s overall sales.
The company also said it expects most of its growth to come outside of North America, with sales in Europe, China and elsewhere roughly twice the size of American sales.
The Model S will be sold in China starting next month, and while Tesla isn’t eligible for EV subsidies due to it being an import, Tesla sees the lower-than-expected EV subsidiary cuts as a good sign for green vehicle adoption in the country.
Tesla said on Wednesday it had a net loss of $16.2 million for the final quarter of 2013. Factoring out non-cash executive compensation and other costs, the company said it had a profit of $46 million, and generated $40 million in free cash flow, a sign that it is making money from building cars.
Revenue soared to $615.2 million from $306.3 million in the same quarter a year earlier.
By the middle of this year, the company expects to refit its factory to be able to build as many as 1,000 cars a week from the current pace of 600 a week—implying annual production of close to 50,000 cars.
Tesla also said that it would accelerate design and engineering work on its Model X sport-utility vehicle, which it expects to start delivering to customers in the spring of 2015. Tesla chief executive Elon Musk said advance orders were already coming in.
Tesla also said its owners have amassed more than 200 million cumulative vehicle miles driven, and that 80 percent are using the Model S as their primary vehicle.
Last month, the automaker addressed a huge anxiety for potential EV drivers: electric range. It announced that Model S drivers could now drive from coast to coast without any doubt that they can find a Supercharger plenty of places in between.
