The Tesla Model 3 has driven out into the real world to much fanfare, including just being named Popular Mechanics Car of the Year. But now Elon Musk must answer the pesky production questions that have dogged Tesla's attempts to scale up, and the reality is coming into clearer view.
Tesla is now making about 2,000 Model 3s per week, according to an email from Musk that leaked out to the press. That's good compared to the 2,425 total Model 3s the company built in the last quarter of last year. It's not so good compared to Musk's stated goal of building 2,500 of these cars per week by the end of the first quarter of 2018.
The email from the Tesla chief nevertheless sings with confidence and celebration as Musk tries to navigate a difficult but crucial time for his electric car company. Tesla's stock price has been tumbling against worries that the company won't be able to meet its production schedule, as well as news of a major recall and a fatal crash involving its Autopilot semi-autonomous system. The dive has led outlets like The New York Times and Jalopnik to start asking whether Tesla even has a future.
Then again, Musk was never particularly worried about missing production targets for the Models S and X. And Tesla still has a list of hundreds of thousands of people who plunked down a deposit to buy a Model 3.