No Need to Worry, Elon Musk Implys. Model 3 Still A Go

Tesla again delays Model 3 production target but says it's making 'major progress'

Production hell continues at Tesla. The new Model 3, crucial to the company's success, won't hit full-scale production until the end of June, Tesla said Wednesday - nearly a year after the company began manufacturing the car in small numbers. Throughout last year, Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk had trumpeted a production level of 5,000 a week by December 2017.

From article, (Musk has a history of missed deadlines but often pulls through at the end. The Model S and Model X both suffered delays but were eventually brought to market to rave reviews. The Model 3, which the company plans to make in the hundreds of thousands and sell for $35,000 to $60,000, has raised the stakes.

It’s possible Tesla could pull everything together before cash runs out. Certainly the stock market thinks so. Shares have been under pressure lately but still give the company a market value of about $53 billion, analysts say. But a return to the financial markets for more billions in investment capital will be necessary. How long stock and bond investors will continue to pump sufficient funds into the company is an open question.

“Musk has a long pattern of missing production and financial targets set not just years ahead but a few months ahead. When someone is wrong that often one must question either his honesty or his competence; personally, I question both,” said Mark Spiegel of Stanphyl Capital, who is betting against Tesla by short-selling its stock.

 Tesla has yet to detail the production problems at its manufacturing plants. The Wall Street Journal reported last year that the cars were being built partly by hand as the company struggled with its automated body-panel assembly line.

Without providing details, Musk acknowledged battery-pack assembly problems at the Gigafactory in a conference call with analysts in November. Musk is attempting to build better, cheaper batteries through advanced automation. But early versions of the Model 3 suffered battery quality problems, and it’s not clear whether those have been sufficiently resolved.

Tesla said Wednesday it’s making “major progress” addressing problems “with our production rate increasing significantly towards the end of the quarter.” During the last week of December, the company said, it made 793 Model 3s.

The company said it will “continue to focus on quality and efficiency rather than simply pushing the the highest possible production in the shortest period of time.”)