Tesla suspends Model 3 production up to five days

Tesla has temporarily suspended production of its Model 3 because of assembly line challenges at its plant in Fremont, California.

The company says it’s a planned production pause of three to five days.

It’s the second time since February that production has been halted. This time, Tesla says it made the move “to improve automation and systematically address bottlenecks in order to increase production rates”, USA Today

reports.

The set-back comes after Tesla surprised investors with a rapid improvement in production pace at the end of March, when it hit 2000 vehicles a week output.

Some industry experts suggest Tesla chief executive officer Elon Musk’s ambition to adopt advanced assembly automation has been misplaced.

“Yes, excessive automation at Tesla was a mistake. To be precise, my mistake. Humans are underrated,” Musk says on Twitter.

Musk recently took over Model 3 production, repeating a pattern where he has personally taken responsibility for troubled operations.

He says the company is aiming to produce 6000 units a week across all production processes and suppliers to achieve 5000 units per week in June after accounting for a margin of error.

Some good news for Tesla came with China announcing plans to lift foreign ownerships restrictions on manufacturing plants there, with Tesla planning to build a plant in China.