Tesla falls short on promised car deliveries for the year

Tesla has ultimately failed to roll out the number of cars it had repeatedly projected it would in 2016.

The electric automaker said Tuesday that it delivered just 76,230 of its Model S and Model X vehicles in the last year, undershooting its promised 80,000 to 90,000.

The company blamed the shortfall on production challenges related to an upgrade of its in-car Autopilot system -- a set of sensors, radars and cameras designed to help guide drivers with partial automation. The problem lasted from October until early December.

While Tesla still managed to produce the planned number of cars, it wasn't able to do so in time to meet delivery demands.

"We tried to recover these deliveries and expedite others by the end of the quarter," the company wrote in a release, but "time ran out before we could deliver all customer cars."

Tesla stood by its ambitious forecast throughout the year, even as it missed shipment goals for the first two quarters. After a record third quarter in which the company boosted its delivery numbers by 70 percent more than the previous period, the target had seemed within reach.

The announcement sent Tesla's share price down by close to 2 percent in after-hours trading on Tuesday evening.

Tesla has a formidable long-term goal to make half a million cars per year by 2018 -- more than five times the upper reach of its benchmark this year.

Supply chain delays are nothing new for the Palo Alto-based automaker; each of its new models to date have missed launch dates due to production problems.

In the past, CEO Elon Musk has blamed them on everything from a Mexican border shootout to a tsunami before ultimately deciding the company's "hubris" was the issue.

Despite the miss, Tesla still hit much higher volumes than last year when it delivered only a little over 50,000.