Tesla Inc. has a chance to beat its previous quarterly production record, and CEO Elon Musk is trying to punch up morale with employees hoping to make it happen.
Musk sent out an email to the Fremont, California plant’s employees letting them know they’re on the precipice of breaking another quarterly production record — last fall’s 90,700 units.
The EV maker measures its production by deliveries, not just how many vehicles are made, and it’s getting the vehicles to their new owners, i.e. the last step, that is giving the company problems these days. It’s been an issue for most the past year.
“While our demand is strong, we have a lot of vehicle deliveries to catch up to in order to have a successful quarter,” Musk wrote in an email, according to Reuters. “Per my earlier email, if we execute well, Q2 will be an all-time record for Tesla vehicle deliveries and an awesome victory!!”
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Last week, Musk let his employees know they were on track for the aforementioned benchmark even with the softer demand for the Model 3 in the second quarter. The company has been building an average of 900 Model 3 sedans each day.
Musk has been touting the company would get to 10,000 units each month, but right now he’s on track for just shy of 7,000 Model 3s. When the company’s other vehicles, the Model S and Model X, are included the number jumps well over 7,000 monthly.
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The company has struggled with deadlines for years, and getting the Model 3 out of the gate was only the latest deadline that the company missed. Musk has poked fun at himself for being able to meet the timelines he lays out when it comes to new products.
Musk said he will start holding calls with Tesla’s delivery teams around the world every two days in order to know “what’s needed to accelerate our rate of deliveries,” Reuters reported.
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In the meantime, the softening demand for the Model 3 sedan and other cars – due in some measure to the cut in the EV tax break from $7,500 to $3,750 — has investors concerned, and the company’s stock price has fallen significantly during that time.
