Tesla suspended production of Model 3 for 5 days in late February

The foremost electric car (EV) maker Tesla suspended production of its popular Model 3 for almost a whole week in late February. The suspension was planned to allow time to make changes that the company hopes will increase productivity.

The Model 3 production suspension.

The Model 3 production was stopped from February 20th to Febuary 24th at its assembly plant in Fremont California. Other models such as the Model S sedan and the Model X SUV are also made at the facility. Batteries are made in what is called the Gigafactory located east of Reno Nevada.

A Tesla spokesperson said: “Our Model 3 production plan includes periods of planned downtime in both Fremont and Gigafactory 1. These periods are used to improve automation and systematically address bottlenecks in order to increase production rates. This is not unusual and is in fact common in production ramps like this.”

Tesla ramping up production of the Model 3

The Model 3 is crucial to the plan of Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, to bring EVs to the mass market. However, ramping up production has been difficult and challenging, much more so than planned. Tesla has a target of a weekly production rate of 2,500 sedans by the end of this month and double that 5,000 by the end of June.

Musk recently said: “People have told me that my timelines historically have been optimistic.” Tesla also asked that buyers and investors be patient and noted the Model 3 rollout had “demonstrated the difficulty of accurately forecasting specific production rates at specific points in time.”

There is so much interest in the production rate of the Model 3 that Bloomberg developed a Model 3 Tracker. The Tracker estimates the weekly production rate based on Vehicle Identification Numbers (VPNs) registered with safety regulators and reported to Bloomberg by customers. While in February production plunged, it has revived in early March.

Tesla still leading in U.S. and EU luxury market

Tesla has managed to outsell all other EVs in the U.S. in February in spite of its declining production of the Model S. and that includes a popular Toyota hybrid.

In spite of production problems, Tesla shares are up 5.1 percent this year. Tesla has many other businesses, including manufacturing batteries, and also building and launching rockets. The company has a market cap of about $55.3 billion dollars more than GM or Ford.

As noted in a recent Digital Journal article there are many new EVs which will compete with Tesla models but at present Tesla is leading the pack in the US and also in the European luxury market.

Previously published in Digital Journal