UNITED STATES (REUTERS) - Tesla is getting into the fast lane again with its Model 3, its sedan for the masses, beating Wall Street expectations on deliveries in the second quarter.

Investors were relieved about the surprisingly good news and shares of the electric car maker jumped about 8 per cent in after-hours trading.

Tesla delivered way over 77 thousand Model 3s - Wall Street was expecting just over 73 thousand deliveries. Deliveries of all models, including Model S and X, were over 95 thousand vehicles.

Reuters correspondent Alexandria Sage said: "It was very important for Tesla to knock this one out of the park this quarter because of its dismal performance in the first quarter.

"That's the quarter where deliveries plunged - because of that Tesla had a 700 million dollar loss. So Elon Musk had been telling people it was a possibility that deliveries could be a record number this quarter but of course not a lot of people believed him. These numbers, however, are really robust and going forward."

She added: "Tesla said that in fact orders forthcoming orders had already exceeded deliveries in the second quarter. That's very good news and it gives us a path to profitability for this company."

The company said earlier this year it would turn a profit in the second half of the year and deliver 360,000 to 400,000 vehicles in 2019, a goal many analysts predict will be difficult to meet.