Tesla Inc. reported record quarterly vehicle deliveries on Sunday, but despite price reductions brought on by increased competition and a gloomy economic outlook, quarter-over-quarter sales growth was modest.

Tesla increased 4% from the prior quarter’s first-quarter delivery total to 422,875 units. Compared to the previous year, this was up 36%. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, predicted in January that this year’s vehicle deliveries would increase by 52% to 2 million from 1 million in the previous year.

Investors are keeping an eye on Musk’s bet that lowering prices will increase sales, although they are concerned about margin erosion.

Following the company’s failure to meet Wall Street’s 2022 delivery projections, Tesla dropped prices by as much as 20% globally in January, starting a pricing war. At $54,990 instead of $65,990, the entry-level Model Y is now available.

“That would have been unsightly if they had not implemented the price reduction. The economy is growing more difficult, in my opinion, and ” On Sunday, Deepwater Asset Management’s managing partner, Gene Munster, made the following statement:

Despite exhibiting acceleration, they didn’t do so to the extent Elon had predicted.

In January, Musk, who in recent years has fallen short of his own lofty sales goals for Tesla, predicted that deliveries in 2023 may increase from 1.3 million to 2 million vehicles, barring any external disruptions.

Refinitiv data based on seven analysts shows that the first-quarter deliveries were low compared to analyst projections of 430,008 automobiles.

The Wall Street Journal and CNBC reported that, as of Friday, a FactSet average of forecasts indicated that Wall Street was anticipating Tesla to post quarterly deliveries of approximately 432,000 vehicles.

Refinitiv and FactSet’s surveys of analysts revealed that Tesla fell short of the mark. According to some estimates, Tesla delivered 422,875 vehicles, exceeding Wall Street’s predictions.

According to a Bloomberg survey of analysts, 421,164 vehicles were projected to be shipped.

According to a tweet from Tesla investor Gary Black, the consensus of more than 20 analysts was for 421,500 vehicles to be delivered. That number could not be independently verified by Reuters.

“All over the place” is how Munster described the consensus.

The first three months of this year saw a 6% increase in Tesla‘s standard Model 3 and Model Y vehicle deliveries compared to the same period last year. Deliveries of its more expensive Model X and Model S automobiles, however, fell by 38%.

With 440,808 automobiles manufactured for the first three months of this year, the automaker produced more than it delivered.

While China’s manufacturing recovered from a COVID-19 shutdown blow, the automaker increased output at new factories in Texas and Berlin. 4,000 Model Ys were produced this week, according to a tweet from Tesla on Sunday. In late February, the carmaker claimed that 4,000 cars were being produced each week at its German manufacturing facility.

Despite the stock still trading more than 50% below its November 2021 peak, Tesla shares have increased by more than 68% this year on the anticipation that the firm will prevail in the price battle it launched.

After Musk gave a few hints about when the EV manufacturer would introduce a more reasonably priced, mass-market vehicle on March 1, shares of Tesla have decreased.