Elon Musk sets Model 3 production goal: report

Tesla Model 3.Hollis Johnson/Business Insider

• Tesla CEO Elon Musk sent an email to employees setting a production goal of 1,000 Model 3 sedans per day by November 28, Electrek reports.
• That would result in a weekly production rate of 7,000 Model 3s each week, since the Fremont, California, factory where Tesla makes the Model 3 runs seven days per week.
• Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk sent an email to employees setting a production goal of 1,000 Model 3 sedans per day by November 28, Electrek reports. That would result in a weekly production rate of 7,000 Model 3s each week, since the Fremont, California, factory where Tesla makes the Model 3 runs seven days per week.

“By the 28th, all Model 3 production subsytems need to be at 50+ UPH steady, which is what’s needed for a true 1000 vehicles per day rate (taking equipment uptime into account),” Musk reportedly said in the email.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Tesla initially struggled to hit its production targets for the Model 3, which it began manufacturing in the summer of 2017. In May 2016, Musk estimated the automaker would make 100,000 to 200,000 Model 3s during the second half of 2017, though Tesla made just 2,685 Model 3 vehicles in 2017. Musk acknowledged in April that Tesla had attempted to automate too many production tasks at the Fremont factory and would use more human workers in the assembly process.

Tesla has improved its Model 3 production rate in recent quarters. The automaker hit a long-delayed goal of making 5,000 Model 3s in one week at the end of June and met its guidance for Model 3 production during the third quarter, making 53,239 after projecting it would make between 50,000 and 55,000.

Musk, who has received criticism for his aggressive Model 3 production goals, declined to set a weekly production target during Tesla’s third-quarter earnings call, though he said reaching a production rate of 7,000 Model 3s per week would require “minimal” capital expenditure.

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