Tesla Model 3 production halted

Model 3’s already slow production has hit yet another speed breaker.

Tesla has temporarily suspended the production of its entry-level Model 3 saloon in what the company claims to be a planned production pause. This makes it the second production halt for the Model 3 since February this year.

“These periods are used to improve automation and systematically address bottlenecks in order to increase production rates,” a Tesla representative told BuzzFeed, which was the first one to break this news. The website also reports that the workers of the car's production line are expected to use vacation days or stay home without pay during the four to five day production pause.

Tesla has always struggled to meet its target of building 2,500 Model 3s per week by the end of the second quarter of 2018. However, the company did reach closer to its target by hitting a production milestone of 2,000 cars per week in Q1 this year. Despite this hiccup, Tesla still projects to reach its target of 5,000 cars a week by the end of 2018 first half.

Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, surprised everyone last week when in a tweet he confessed for the first time that he had over relied on automation in the Model 3 assembly line. Musk is the same person who boasted about creating an “Alien Dreadnought” within Tesla’s Fremont plant by 2018. Musk also quoted that “humans are underrated”.

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