Musk Says It’s ‘Impossible’ For Tesla To Meet Model 3 Production Deadline

Tesla makes some great cars but it still has to deal with production and delivery related issues. Praise was heaped on the company when it unveiled its truly mass-market Model 3 all-electric car recently but many are wondering if the company will be able to start production and deliveries on time. It appears that Tesla may have once again been too optimistic about the production deadline.

During the company’s earnings call yesterday, CEO Elon Musk set a production deadline of July 1st, 2017 for the Model 3, but later admitted that it would be “impossible” for the company to meet that deadline due to supply issues.

Musk said that nevertheless, it was important to set the date even if Tesla is unable to fully develop the supply chain for Model 3 in time. He did mention that this new car has been designed to be less complicated to mass production than the Model S and the Model X, which Tesla recently admitted is being delayed because of its own fault.

The CEO predicted that if production is able to start next year, Tesla is looking at an initial production of 100,000 to 200,000 units of the Model 3 in 2017. That’s not nearly enough to meet orders which have crossed well over 400,000 now. Tesla aims to start producing 500,000 cars a year by 2018.

Musk also hinted that Tesla could establish factories in Europe and China to simplify global shipping while pointing out that this will only be done after production has been maximized at its Fremont factory.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Transportation
Tags: Model 3, Tesla