The Tesla Model 3 production is temporarily halted, as the company says the assembly line has entered a "planned production pause."
The highly anticipated Tesla Model 3 is already behind schedule and this is the second temporary shutdown in just three months. This time, however, the shutdown of the production line at Tesla's plant in Fremont, California, was planned.
Tesla Model 3 Production Pause
According to a new report, the temporary halt will be just for a few days. Although the pause was reportedly planned, Tesla employees told BuzzFeed News that they had no prior knowledge of this, and the news came as a surprise.
During the four or five days that production will cease, the workers are advised to either use their vacation days or stay home on unpaid leave. A few workers, meanwhile, might get the chance to do paid work in other departments within the plant.
Nevertheless, a Tesla spokesperson reiterates the same statement from February, ensuring that the temporary halt is necessary.
Tesla Planned Downtime
"Our Model 3 production plan includes periods of planned downtime in both Fremont and Gigafactory 1," explains the Tesla spokesperson. "These periods are used to improve automation and systematically address bottlenecks in order to increase production rates. This is not unusual and is, in fact, common in production ramps like this."
Despite the challenges that Tesla keeps facing with the Model 3, CEO Elon Musk recently said he's feeling confident that the company will be able to ramp up production for its vehicles.
At the same time, Musk also said last week that Tesla did indeed over-automate the vehicles' production. This planned pause, which came as a surprise to employees, could be related to this acknowledgment and Tesla could be looking to tweak its production process to rely less on automation and more on human workers.
Tesla Model 3 Production Rate
Back in August 2017, Tesla expected Model 3 production to churn 5,000 cars per week by the end of the year. As it failed to meet its initial expectations, the company then adjusted its planned production rate back in January saying that this quarter, it should make roughly 2,500 vehicles per week, but it plans to hit 5,000 Model 3 cars per week by the end of the second quarter.
Model 3 production woes have affected Tesla's profitability and the company is still facing losses, but a production ramp-up in the second quarter could turn things around.