Despite the downbeat talk about the EV market globally, Tesla found a way to surprise investors with better than expected deliveries data for Q2

The carmaker said Tuesday that it delivered 443,956 vehicles in the second quarter, better than the 439,302 average analyst estimate.

While sales were down 4.8% from a year ago, Tesla improved on a sequential basis from the 386,810 vehicles delivered in the first three months of the year.

The Austin-based carmaker delivered 422,405 of its top-selling Model 3 and Model Y vehicles in the second quarter, down from 446,915 a year ago.

The company produced 410,831 vehicles during the quarter.

TSLA shares are up around 5% in the pre-market, having soared from below $170 to almost $220 in the last three weeks to its highest since January...

...helped by a major short-squeeze (up 25% since this tweet)...

...which we suspect has more legs...

...and the countdown to the unveiling of Musk's fully autonomous robotaxi concept on August 8th begins.