Tesla production goes down as they start new Mid-Range Model 3 deliveries

Tesla recently said that it is trying to ramp up Model 3 production to 7,000 units per week, but the automaker’s Model 3 and overall production was significantly down this week, according to our sources.

Last quarter, we closely tracked Tesla’s production on what turned out to be the company’s biggest quarter ever, with just over 80,000 vehicles produced, including over 53,000 Model 3s.

We are still keeping a close eye on Tesla’s production this quarter as the automaker is expected to ramp Model 3 production by the end of the year.

According to a reliable source familiar with the company’s production, Tesla has produced about 5,000 vehicles, including ~3,500 Model 3’s.

That’s down from about 6,500 vehicles, including  ~4,400 Model 3’s last week.

It’s unclear why the production went down significantly this week, but it coincides with Tesla starting low volume production of the new Mid-Range battery pack.

The automaker has produced a few dozen Model 3 vehicles with the new battery pack, according to our sources. They’ve even delivered one already and a few more are scheduled for deliveries this weekend.

For the quarter, Tesla has now produced up to about 20,100 Model 3’s and close to 30,000 vehicles total as of early this morning.

Electrek’s Take

Again, we don’t for sure why production went down this week. It may or may not have to do with some production changes to prepare for the production of the new ‘Mid-Range’ battery pack.

While it’s worrying that we haven’t seen any sign of a ramp up so far in the fourth quarter, there are still some good news.

Firstly, it’s still the strongest start to a quarter that we have seen from Tesla to date.

Also, historically, production went down for a week or two before a production ramp. Tesla could be making changes that would result in a temporary slow down and an upcoming ramp up.

The automaker confirmed that the ramp up to 7,000 units per week involves doing upgrades to existing lines instead of adding new ones and it would be surprising that it could be done without temporarily affecting the production rate of the existing lines.

But that’s just my 2 cents, what do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.