Tesla built 20% of last week’s Model 3s in its fancy new tent

Tesla hit a key milestone in the second quarter, managing to hit a 5,000-per-week production target for its important Model 3 electric vehicle. Remarkably, about 20 percent of the 5,031 Model 3 vehicles made in the past seven days were produced on the company’s GA4, a hastily built general assembly line housed under a massive tent at its Fremont, California factory.

News that Tesla had hit the 5,000-per-week target came out Sunday as the last Model 3 rolled off the assembly line and employees celebrated. Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted later that day the company had produced 7,000 vehicles in a week, a figure that includes Model S and X vehicles as well.

7000 cars, 7 days
Tesla Team

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 1, 2018

On Monday, the company released its production and delivery numbers for the second quarter and provided more detail about how it reached the target.

“We expect that GA3 alone can reach a production rate of 5,000 Model 3s per week soon, but GA4 helped to get us there faster and will also help to exceed that rate,” Tesla said in a statement released Monday.

Tesla reported Monday that it made 28,578 Model 3s in the second quarter more than three times as more than it did in the previous quarter. That figured also overshadowed the combined production of the Model S and X, which stood at 24,761.

Production breakdown for Q2:

• Total: 53,339 vehicles, up 55% from the previous quarter
• Model S and X (the company doesn’t break these out): 24,761
• Model 3: 28,578

The company produced just 2,425 in the fourth quarter.

Delivery breakdown for Q2:

• Total: 40,740
• Model 3: 18,440
• Model S: 10,930
• Model X: 11,370

Tesla has delivered a total of 28,386 Model 3 vehicles since its splashy event in July 2017 when CEO Elon Musk handed out the first vehicles to employees. But the vast majority of those Model 3 vehicles were made in the second quarter of 2018. The company had failed to meet any of its production and delivery targets for the Model 3 up until now.

The company says it expects to produce 6,000 Model 3 vehicles a week by the end of July. Tesla also reaffirmed its cash flow positive outlook for the third and fourth quarters, despite negative pressures from a weaker dollar and likely higher tariffs for vehicles imported into China as well as components procured from China.

Tesla says it target to deliver 100,000 Model S and Model X vehicles in 2018 is unchanged.

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