SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- U.S. top electric carmaker Tesla Inc. Wednesday reported a profitability of 312 million U.S. dollars in net income in the third quarter this year as it ramped up production of Model 3 sedan.

In its third-quarter financial report for 2018 released Wednesday, Tesla posted a record revenue of 6.8 billion dollars and a net profit of 31 million dollars to meet the target set by its CEO Elon Musk earlier this year.

Tesla called the third quarter 2018 "a truly historic quarter" as it is the carmaker's first profitable quarter since Q1 2013, when the company reported a minor profit.

The California-based company said it has a free cash flow of 881 million dollars supported by operating cash flow of 1.4 billion dollars, and the cash or ash equivalents hit 3 billion dollars at the end of Q3, which increased by 731 million dollars.

Tesla's automotive revenue increase 82 percent to 6.09 billion dollars in the third quarter, compared to the previous corresponding period.

The sharp growth in the company's auto revenue was mainly driven from its Model 3 sales, which delivered 56,000 cars in the third quarter.

"Model 3 was the best-selling car in the United States in terms of revenue and the fifth best-selling car in terms of volume," Tesla said in the report.

The U.S. electric car giant achieved average weekly Model 3 production through the quarter of roughly 4,300 units, helping the company achieve GAAP net income of 312 million dollars, with GAAP Model 3 gross margin of more than 20 percent.

Tesla said it will continue to remain profitable in the fourth quarter. It expects accelerated production of Model 3 and delivery numbers in Q4, in addition to delivering over 100,000 Model S and Model X vehicles by year's end.

Tesla delivered 27,710 Model S and X vehicles to customers in the third quarter.