Tesla delivered 435,059 vehicles in the third quarter, a result that missed Wall Street expectations and was nearly 7% lower than the previous quarter. Tesla said planned downtimes at its factories led to lower production and delivery numbers.

"A sequential decline in volumes was caused by planned downtimes for factory upgrades, as discussed on the most recent earnings call. Our 2023 volume target of around 1.8 million vehicles remains unchanged," the company said in its announcement.

CEO Elon Musk had warned during the company's second-quarter earnings call that production and delivery numbers would be lower due to the upgrades. Musk said, at the time, that the company was still targeting 1.8 million deliveries in 2023 — a target the company reiterated Monday. Tesla has delivered 1.32 million vehicles so far this year, leaving a 480,000 sales hole to fill.

Shares fell about 2% in early morning trading. Shares are now down less than 1% at $247.84.

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The lower-than-expected results come after a record second quarter when Tesla produced 479,000 and delivered 466,140 vehicles. The automaker's third-quarter numbers still show growth from a year ago when it produced 365,923 and delivered 343,830 vehicles.

Tesla also said it will hold its third-quarter earnings call after market close October 18.