Tesla on Wednesday slipped back into the red in the recently ended quarter while revenue revved up, with orders for some of its electric car models hitting record highs.
The company forecast that demand for its cars would show strong growth in the first half of this year, and shares rose more than 3 percent to $281.74 in after-market trades despite Tesla's reporting it had slid back to a loss in the quarter.
Tesla said that revenue for the quarter that ended on December 31 came to $2.28 billion, a leap from the $1.22 billion taken in during the same period the year before.
The California-based company recorded a loss of $121.3 million, compared with a profit of $22 million in the prior quarter but a loss of $320.4 in the same period a year earlier.
Energy production and storage, bolstered by the acquisition of SolarCity that closed in November, accounted for $131 million in revenue in the quarter.
Tesla's mass-market targeted Model 3 was on track to begin production in July, with production gradually ramping up to 5,000 vehicles weekly by the end of this year, chief executive Elon Musk and the company's chief financial officer said in a letter released with the earnings results.
Tesla expects to deliver 47,000 to 50,000 Model S and Model X vehicles during the first half of this year.
"We are excited about 2017, as we expect to see significant advances across our transport, energy generation and storage product lines," the executives said in the letter.
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