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

I think you're on to something, nice post.

@28-Cars-Later Yeah, except that Tesla is profitable with the Model S and X.

@Stingray: Unlikely, though there are some who want to believe so. It makes perfect sense to stop current production to bring new machines online and use the down time to repair any existing minor issues waiting for such downtime.

@VoGo As far as I have seen, Tesla has had only two quarterly profits during its entire history, which were largely due to selling carbon credits. Thus it is hard to believe that the S and X are profitable when they are the only major products of the company. Sure the gross margins are high, but a company that never seems to be able to cover their overhead is in trouble, especially if interest rates start to rise and/or various EV subsidies are reduced.

@ Vulpine Shutting down a plant for days just to set up to produce verification prototypes, pre-production or series production of a new model is not normal. TTAC doesn't allow me to post the link, so go to YouTube and search for "2014 Volvo Model Production Begins Watch The Factory Changeover" to see how Volvo did a model year changeover with five refreshed models during full production.

@stingray65 Q: Tesla's ratio of debt to market cap is much lower than GM, Ford of FCA. So how exactly would high interest rates cause them trouble? A: They wouldn't. Just more made-up madness. Q: Would Tesla be hurt by reductions in EV subsidies? A: Actually, no. In fact, it will help Tesla. The reason is that the subsidies start to end after a company has sold 200K EVs. So the subsidies end for Tesla within a year, but continue for competitors for much longer, because they don't manufacture EVs in volume like Tesla. The reality is that ending EV subsidies helps Tesla because it won't be at a competitive disadvantage to companies that will receive them in 2018 and beyond. The more facts you have, stingray, the less garbage you will spew.

@CH1 You want us to watch how the chinese do it? Why do you hate america so much?

@stingray65 none of that supports your assertion that they're profitable on the Model S and Model X.

@stingray65 Look at their 3rd quarter results.

vogo if tesla lost money in q4 will you spit that out repeatedly as well?

@dash riprock Only in response to repeated lies.

@CH1: Have you ever worked in a factory? Have you ever paid attention to what goes on at other auto factories? One-week shut downs for upgrades and maintenance are common and typically scheduled around inventory and new-product introductions. The model changeover you link does not account for a complete new model introduction. The way most of them do it is to shut down one line at a time and keep parallel lines running so there is no total shut down--though even GM and Ford occasionally suspend production to perform such tasks in a given plant. The point is that right now Tesla only has one active assembly line of which I'm aware, at least as far as the paint booth is concerned--which is WHERE the upgrades are going in. (Try studying the news before jumping to conclusions.) As such, a week-long down period allows a complete upgrade and time to repair, reprogram and fine-tune other assembly processes in a way that doesn't impact the quality of the vehicles passing through the line while the changes are being made.

@Vulpine "The model changeover you link does not account for a complete new model introduction. The way most of them do it is to shut down one line at a time and keep parallel lines running so there is no total shut down" 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. "The point is that right now Tesla only has one active assembly line of which I’m aware, at least as far as the paint booth is concerned–which is WHERE the upgrades are going in." And that's Tesla's fault for not engineering their production system to allow the introduction of new models and changes to existing models without shutting down the entire plant for days.

@Vulpine I've actually done work on the Fremont plant back in the GM days - didn't gain my expertise by watching youtube videos. GMAD would shut the plant down (both the truck and the car line) for us to work on it back then - as well as other plants. There's some equipment that just can't be installed overnight. Just to be clear, it is normal to shut down a plant to add an entirely new platform like the Model 3.