Elon Musk Reports That Model 3 Production To Top 5000 Units Per Week

To clarify what is in the article, they are going for 500+ units a day (3,500/week) right now. The latest goal is still 5k/week by June 30th, not this week as the headline might imply.

I saw one that was 2 weeks old in a parking lot at work and spoke to the owner. No panel gaps or issues other than the exterior being dirty (in need of a wash/detail) when he picked it up. Looks like they are making pretty good progress.

Hilarious, just got alert on my phone that Tesla is pausing the production of the 3 at the end of May to address manufacturing problems. Just hilarious.

Credibility is shot so who actually cares

History has repeatedly shown us:

1) Tesla consistently misses their self-imposed targets, be they sales, production ramp-up, profitability, not needing to tap capital markets again, etc.

2) Tesla periodically does a "smoke and mirrors week" in which the proudly proclaim they hit a target of "X" vehicles in the last week of a financial quarter. This is done purely to deceive the public. For example, Tesla might boast "3,000 units a week" ending a fiscal quarter, but the average production for the quarter is on the order of a few hundred units per week.

3) When Tesla proudly proclaims their high weekly production, many receivers of this information assume this means that figure is sustainable, and will increase in the future. So far, this has not proven to be the case. We get the "big week" announced by Tesla, then during the following quarter, we clearly see those "big week" numbers were not sustainable.

Smoke and mirrors, says documented history. Place your bets on this being more of the same, or the turn-around point that breaks the historic trend.

1.) Agree
2.) Exaggeration, but they tend to do something along those lines like taking their best hour of production and extrapolating that as their rate (unrealistic in the near future)
3.) It became sustainable on the S/X and is only a matter of time until each "step" is sustainable on the 3.

If they hit 3,500/week before the end of May then I'll be happy. They have one more planned shutdown to improve bottlenecks before the end of Q, so there is a solid chance to get from 3,500 to 5,000 by end of June at that point--and it would be the first time they've hit one of their big Model 3 manufacturing forecasts.

Everyone likes to hate on Elon and Tesla. When is the last time you started a car company? A space/rocket company? A solar roof tile company? Crickets....

Crickets when they start making money before the end of the year.

@CANADIANCOMMENTS: True, that starting a new car company from scratch is not easy.

However, with the exception of psychopathy or other pathology, telling the truth is easy! Unfortunately, Musk and the Tesla PR Machine excel at producing hype and hyperbole, which exceeds by far their ability to produce cars.

@colecole It was not his original idea but he was the lead investor starting with Series A funding (first real funding round).

Is it 5000 or 500? The article gives two hugely disparate production numbers.

It is 500 a day, 5000 a week is the goal for June 30th.

It's awesome that the guys in here hate Tesla but all stood and cheered when the government bailed out GM. WTF?

@carloslassiter: Yeah, I noticed that, too! It's often the same guys who cheered the GM bailout who hate Obama, don't give Obama credit for the bailout, and/or spin the Obama-bailout connection in negative light... while continuing to support the GM bailout. Weird.

It's just part of "The Daffies'" continuously convoluted patterns of thought.

That's because most people do not actually associate TESLA with a huge amount of government funds - although that is NOT true. In addition - add in a $7500 tax credit - PER CAR - and you end up with - BY FAR - the most subsidized Vehicle Manufacturer in the USA EVER - ANd Tesla does not have to pay back the tax credit either.

However - the facts remain - the longer it takes for TESLA to actually produce ENTRY LEVEL versions of the Model 3 (I think we all now accept that it is being delayed because it is not profitable) - the sooner Tesla will have competition. THAT can cost two ways - the Tesla sales model is till all wrong - plus what will happen if half of the sales deposits ask for a return?

The oil industry is also heavily subsidized, plus ALL automakers get the same access to subsidies as Tesla. Nissan is also close to the 200,000 EV mark, both will lose the federal EV subsidy by the end of 2019 while the laggards will get a temporary competitive advantage.

You have to at least admire Tesla for trying to do something different that other manufacturers were afraid to do. It's quickly becoming a new world. You innovate, or die--that is the Silicon Valley motto. Some heads will roll in the auto industry over the next 10 years, I don't think Tesla will be one of them.