Tesla delivers record 25,000 vehicles during first quarter

Carmaker Tesla Motors delivered more vehicles in the first quarter of 2017 than any other quarter to date, figures released by the company show.

Elon Musk's innovative firm produced 25,000 cars during the first three months of the year, ahead of the start in production of its new lower-priced Model 3 later in 2017. That figure is 69% higher than the production levels for the same period in 2016.

Despite the ramp up in production, Tesla is still expected to make a loss for Q1 2017, after a $121m loss in the final quarter of last year.

In a statement released by the Palo Alto-based company, it said that the final delivery number will exceed that of the 25,418 vehicles which have already been counted.

"Our delivery count should be viewed as slightly conservative, as we only count a car as delivered if it is transferred to the customer and all paperwork is correct. Final numbers could vary by up to 0.5%," Tesla said.

Entrepreneur Musk has been busy with his privately-held firm SpaceX, which helped to relaunch its first reusable rocket last week in a significant step towards making space travel more affordable.