You're overlooking an important consideration. Tesla is well aware of the regulatory credits it will likely receive and recognize before each quarter begins --

You're overlooking an important consideration. Tesla is well aware of the regulatory credits it will likely receive and recognize before each quarter begins -- and therefore can make decisions about where to make capital expenditures as a results of the additional revenue. If they weren't receiving the ZEV credits, they have stated that their expenses would be different. The media overlook this simple point regularly.