Over 5,000 Model 3s built in a week

Tesla team celebrates production milestone. © Tesla.

Tesla announced that in the second quarter, it produced 53,339 vehicles, an increase of 55% over the first quarter. For the first time, production of Model 3s edged higher than the combined totals of the S and X models (28,578 vs. 24,761); the company’s production numbers for the Model 3 are three times higher than in the first quarter. In addition, Tesla finally hit the 5,000-unit mark, with 5,031 cars rolling off assembly lines on the last week of June (last July, Elon Musk had predicted Tesla would produce 5,000 Model 3s per week by December). The company hopes to increase production to 6,000 per week by the end of August. To compare, Ford produces about 12,000 vehicles a day. Reservations for the Model 3 at the end of June were still about 420,000, even though 28,386 have been delivered to date.

Tesla’s transformation from small, luxury car-maker to a mass producer is a key component of Musk’s vision of a future where transportation is completely electric. From delivery delays to voluntary recalls, through company reorganization and skyrocketing costs, that transition has been a rocky one so far.

⇨ Tesla, “Tesla Q2 2018 vehicle production and deliveries.”

⇨ Ars Technica, “Tesla nearly triples Model 3 production from the previous quarter.”