Tesla gets govt green light to start Model 3 production at Gigafactory 3

Tesla has received the official government approval to start Model 3 production at Gigafactory 3 in China, which was rumored to start this week.

In recent weeks, we have been reporting on Tesla ramping up its efforts to start production soon at Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai, China.

The start of production is going to be a major milestone since it’s going to be the first electric vehicle factory wholly-owned by a foreign automaker in China and Tesla’s second electric vehicle production factory.

After starting construction just in January earlier this year, Tesla has been guiding the start of production in Q4 2019 and recent reports indicate that the company is on schedule.

We reported last month that government officials and Tesla suppliers were saying that the automaker planned to start production on October 14.

Now a few days after that date, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology gave approval for Tesla to start production at the plant.

Tesla’s Gigafactory 3 was added to the list of approved automotive manufacturers (via Reuters):

“This means “the green light is fully given to Tesla for production in China,” said Yale Zhang, head of the Shanghai-based consultancy Automotive Foresight. Tesla can start production any time, he said”

While Tesla has approval to officially start production whenever, it doesn’t mean that they can. Although we have seen evidence lately of Tesla making progress.

Some leaks from inside the factory have shown Tesla setting up production lines and making body-in-white Model 3s.

Last week, a Tesla Model 3 was spotted on a new test track at the Gigafactory 3.

We should have more details about Tesla’s plans for Gigafactory 3 as they get closer to production in the coming days.

CEO Elon Musk has been guiding a rapid production ramp-up in phases starting with 3,000 vehicles per week by the end of the year, which would be an even more impressive ramp-up than the buildup of the factory.