Tesla shares sink as Model 3 production sputters

Tesla shares tanked after the electric-car maker admitted that production of its new Model 3 sedan is sputtering out of the gate.

The California-based company, which began production of the Model 3 in July, has so far delivered just 220 of those sedans and produced 260 during the third quarter ending in September.

That’s well short of the target of 1,500 that Tesla had set. The company insisted there are no fundamental issues with the Model 3 and that it understands what needs to be fixed.

Overall, Tesla delivered 26,150 vehicles during the third quarter.

Nevertheless, it looks iffy whether Tesla can meet its previously stated goal to produce 5,000 Model 3s a week by the end of 2017, according to analysts at Cowan & Co.

Tesla shares sank as much as 3 percent in early trades Wednesday. Recently, they were off 1.3 percent at $337.06.

Tesla is also set to face increased competition as rival General Motors on Monday outlined plans to add 20 new battery electric and fuel cell vehicles to its global lineup by 2023.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk retweeted the GM announcement without commenting on the Model 3 bottleneck.