Cancelled
“Tesla made 0 cars in 2011, but will make around 500k in 2019”
— Elon Musk · Feb 20, 2019 · Musk tweet, Feb 19 2019 (the SEC-contempt tweet) ↗
See his original post on XLoads Elon's actual tweet, right here.
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What actually happened
Tesla delivered approximately 367,500 vehicles in 2019 and produced roughly 365,000, far below the ~500,000 Musk tweeted in February 2019. The shortfall confirms the production claim was not met for the calendar year. Re-graded delivered-late (2026-07-05 audit): 2019 fell short (~365,300 produced / ~367,500 delivered), but Tesla hit the promised half-million one year late — 509,737 vehicles produced and 499,550 delivered in calendar 2020, reported Jan 2, 2021. The milestone was achieved, not missed forever. CNBC — Tesla 2020 production 509,737 / deliveries 499,550 ↗
The Progression
Feb 20, 2019
The promise: “Tesla made 0 cars in 2011, but will make around 500k in 2019” · Musk tweet, Feb 19 2019 (the SEC-contempt tweet) ↗
Dec 31, 2020
Delivered · Late — 1.0 years late. Tesla delivered approximately 367,500 vehicles in 2019 and produced roughly 365,000, far below the ~500,000 Musk tweeted in February 2019. The shortfall confirms the production claim was not met for the calendar year. Re-graded delivered-late (2026-07-05 audit): 2019 fell short (~365,300 produced / ~367,500 delivered), but Tesla hit the promised half-million one year late — 509,737 vehicles produced and 499,550 delivered in calendar 2020, reported Jan 2, 2021. The milestone was achieved, not missed forever. CNBC — Tesla 2020 production 509,737 / deliveries 499,550 ↗
Today · Jul 16, 2026
Status: Delivered · Late · 1.0 years late. It happened — eventually.
In a February 2019 tweet — the one that prompted an SEC contempt filing — Musk wrote that Tesla 'made 0 cars in 2011, but will make around 500k in 2019.' He corrected it hours later to mean an annualized production rate of about 500,000 by year-end, with deliveries around 400,000. Actual 2019 production came to roughly 367,500 vehicles, and the prediction was missed.
Receipts
LAST CHECKED 2026-07-05- [TWEET] Musk tweet, Feb 19 2019 (the SEC-contempt tweet)
- [REPORT] bloomberg.com
- [TWEET] Musk correction tweet ~4h later: 'Meant to say annualized production rate at end of 2019 probably around 500k, ie 10k cars/week. Deliveries for year still estimated to be about 400k.'
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