Tesla to Temporarily Halt Factory as Model 3 Pre-production Looms

Tyler Wooley
by Tyler Wooley

Tesla is planning to halt vehicle production for one week in February to prepare for Model 3 pre-production, which the company says will begin February 20.

According to Reuters, the short-term shutdown of its Fremont, California assembly plant will give Tesla time to add capacity to its paint shop as it plans for full-scale production of the Model 3.

“This will allow Tesla to begin Model 3 production later this year as planned and enable us to start the ramp towards 500,000 vehicles annually in 2018,” said a Tesla spokesperson.

This sounds like Tesla is on track, or at least close, to meeting its Model 3 production goal.

According to Tesla, suppliers not meeting their own deadlines is the only variable that might delay production of the massively pre-ordered EV.

As we already know, the Model 3 will not be available with the 100 kilowatt-hour battery found in the Model S, and it’s likely Tesla will use the cheaper 60 kWh battery already offered in that model.

At $35,000 before any tax incentives, the Model 3 would be the least expensive vehicle to roll out of Fremont. That would also make it cheaper than the Chevrolet Bolt, its main competition, which carries a $37,495 price tag before tax credits. While some have said that the Model 3 will not be profitable at that price, the Bolt doesn’t break even, either.

It’s unknown how many pre-production Model 3s the company plans to build during this phase of the ramp-up. Tesla also expects to perform general maintenance during the downtime.

[Images: Tesla Motors]

Tyler Wooley
Tyler Wooley

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  • Master Baiter Master Baiter on Feb 10, 2017

    "and it’s likely Tesla will use the cheaper 60 kWh battery already offered in that model." The Model 3 will use a unique battery from the Model S, constructed from larger, 21700 size cells (Model S uses 18650 size). . .

  • Stingray65 Stingray65 on Feb 10, 2017

    Is the stoppage also possibly an indicator that sales have slowed on the Model S and X? If sales of existing models are slowing down, it might be an early indicator that that model 3 will cannibalize sales of the S with its substantially lower price and more manageable size. Thus a key question is how much such possible cannibalization will hurt Tesla current financial situation - will the Model 3 be an even bigger money loser than the S?

    • See 14 previous
    • Vulpine Vulpine on Feb 11, 2017

      @CH1 "And right there you agreed with my point that it’s not normal to shut down the entire plant for days just to set up for a new model." Except that I didn't agree with you since the Tesla plant doesn't have more than one or two assembly lines in operation and only has ONE paint booth intended to support the plant's full output. It's the paint booth itself that's getting most of the upgrade as reported by Tesla when they announced the shut down.

  • GregLocock That's a bodge, not a solution. Your diff now has bits of broken off metal floating around in it.
  • The Oracle Well, we’re 3-4 years in with the Telluride and right around the time the long term durability issues start to really take hold. This is sad.
  • CoastieLenn No idea why, but nothing about a 4Runner excites me post-2004. To me, they're peak "try-hard", even above the Wrangler and Gladiator.
  • AZFelix A well earned anniversary.Can they also attend to the Mach-E?
  • Jalop1991 The intermediate shaft and right front driveshaft may not be fully engaged due to suspected improper assembly by the supplier. Over time, partial engagement can cause damage to the intermediate shaft splines. Damaged shaft splines may result in unintended vehicle movement while in Park if the parking brake is not engagedGee, my Chrysler van automatically engages the parking brake when we put it in Park. Do you mean to tell me that the idjits at Kia, and the idjit buyers, couldn't figure out wanting this in THEIR MOST EXPENSIVE VEHICLE????
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