Electric vehicle and solar panel maker Tesla Inc. is not doing so well.

The company Wednesday reported a massive loss in the third quarter and disclosed production problems with its electric vehicles.

By the numbers, Tesla reported a loss of $671 million in the quarter with negative cash flow of $1.4 billion, or a loss of $2.92 per share, its worst on record and below analyst predictions of a $1.2 billion or $2.23-per-share loss. On the flip side, the company reported revenue of $2.98 billion, solidly ahead of market predictions of $2.39 billion.

Most troubling for investors was what founder and Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk (pictured) described as “production hell” for its Model 3 electric vehicle, the lower-cost car it first revealed in July. Tesla said it had managed to manufacture only 222 Model 3 vehicles in the quarter.

The company not only missed its initial projection of 1,500 vehicles per month but also said it wold not reach an earlier target of 10,000 vehicles per month by December either. Instead, it said, it’s hoping to ramp up production to 5,000 vehicles per month in the first quarter of 2018. The production delays were blamed on bottlenecks at its Sparks, Nevada-based “Gigafactory,” specifically production of the batteries that are required to run the vehicles.

“While we continue to make significant progress each week in fixing Model 3 bottlenecks, the nature of manufacturing challenges during a ramp such as this makes it difficult to predict exactly how long it will take for all bottlenecks to be cleared or when new ones will appear,” the company said in a statement.

Trouble with the Model 3 line first appeared in August when it was reported that Tesla was raising $1.5 billion in junk bonds in an attempt to ramp up production. Further problems emerged in October when it was reported that the delays in manufacturing the vehicle were due to “major portions” of the Model 3 car being built by hand away from the automated production line, though Tesla denied the report.

Tesla laid off hundreds of employees, including engineers, managers and factory workers in October in what the company claimed was a result of a companywide annual review. Given its production and financial issues, it was at best a very large coincidence but far more likely it was directly related. Tesla also made headlines in the quarter for its managerial processes, with claims that the company was a “predator zone” with a “man problem.”

Tesla said it expects gross profit will grow more than operating costs in the fourth quarter compared with the third period, while operating costs would come in “flat to up slightly in Q4.”

The market was not impressed by the numbers. Tesla’s share price dropped 5 percent in after-hours trading, to $304.90, its lowest level since May. On Friday, they closed down almost 8 percent.

Photo: oninnovation/Flickr