Electric car maker Tesla plans to hugely accelerate production of its upcoming Model 3 mass-market vehicle to 500,000 cars a year from 2018, but sceptics are doubtful founder Elon Musk can do it.
ADVERTISEMENTElectric car maker Tesla says it is going to hugely accelerate production of its upcoming Model 3 mass-market vehicle.
It plans to build 500,000 cars a year from 2018, two years ahead of its original schedule.
The new target – which sceptics say is unattainable – will require a more than 50 percent rise in capital spending to $2.25 billion (1.97 billion euros) the company said.
Tesla’s founder Elon Musk has never previously managed to hit any of his production deadlines.
Standard and Poor’s Global Market Intelligence analyst Efraim Levy said: “I would be betting that they don’t make it.”
Musk said the company had excelled at design and technology, but a new premium was being placed on manufacturing: “The key thing we need to achieve in the future is to also be the leader in manufacturing. It’s the thing we obviously have to solve if we are going to scale and scale profitably.”
Elon Musk promises Tesla will do the improbable or even impossible #Tesla#Gigafactoryhttps://t.co/aaiYOCxn8hpic.twitter.com/VrQhH6PI3t
— WLST.com (@wlstcom) 5 May 2016
The company just announced another quarterly loss – $282.3 million (247 million euros) – up from $154.2 million a year earlier, but that was not as much as financial analysts were fearing.
Revenue rose to $1.15 billion (1 billion euros) from $939.9 million.
The Model 3, which is set to go into production in late 2017, has generated massive interest since its unveiling on March 31.
