However, they also recognize a portion of cars sold in July, deposits taken during the month, and probably a portion of the price of cars ordered in previous months that will be shipped in future months, but were built during July.
The amount of revenue recognized for a month is never as simple as (cars_shipped * car_price).
They might have had deferred revenue in terms of warranty. They probably have to allocate a portion of each sale as warranty and recognize that revenue over the length of the warranty (similar to iPod). Problem with that is it means they would have had defer a portion of revenue this months sales as well... so this theory only holds true if they had sold a large number before this month.
Maybe OEM accessories and upgrades (like the Sport Package). Also they might sell a license to an after market shop so they can say they are the official Tesla parts brands.
http://www.teslamotors.com/blog2/
Obviously we don't have the whole picture for the numbers. However, he does state material cost of the car was 140k and as of a month or two ago is 80k. They also raised the price of their vehicle to 109 from 92. Lastly , he mentions good sales of their more expensive Tesla sport which is 128k.
Or, they also sell powertrains and batteries.
I agree that they're probably counting deposits to some degree - they have a 500+ strong waiting list each paying a $9,900 deposit for the Roadster, afterall.
Deposit money itself would not significantly affect sales numbers either (it might a little depending on recognition policy). The sales may be booked as a function of the rate of completion of vehicles, which if they have already been ordered could be construed as revenue by GAAP standards. That's probably what's happening. Which would seem to indicate some significant outstanding demand for the vehicles.
109 roadsters at $109,000 = $11,881,000. So car sales, which are Tesla's main business, only account for a little over half of their reported $20 mil revenue. Something else contributed about $8 million dollars, and I suspect was either partially or wholly responsible for them being profitable.
With the relatively small Tesla brand I doubt it's merchandising or licensing (where companies like Ferrari or Porsche can pull in big bucks). My guess is that it may be either realizing future income (Roadster & S model deposits) or a income from the 10% stake Daimler acquired in mid May.
I really hope that Tesla succeeds, my biggest concern is whether they'll be able to successfully scale into the mass market and remain profitable while doing so.