Elon Musk showed off Tesla Inc.’s newest production line in a weekend tweet as the electric-car company pushes toward its goal of making 5,000 Model 3 cars a week by the end of June. The new production line is the third at Tesla’s Fremont, Calif., facility, and apparently was built in just three weeks in a tent-like structure next to the factory. The new line is apparently rolling out dual-motor, high-performance Model 3s, a new version for $78,000 that the Tesla chief executive announced less than a month ago. On Friday, Musk reportedly sent an email to staff congratulating them on their efforts, but said “radical improvements” still need to be made to reach their production goal. “All parts of the Model 3 production system are now above 500 [cars per day] and some are almost at 700 cars already,” Musk said in the email, which was obtained by CNBC. Last Tuesday, Musk announced that Tesla would lay off about 9% of its workforce, though he said production jobs would not be affected. Over the next two days, Musk bought about $25 million in Tesla stock, according to an SEC filing. After the layoffs, analysts at Consumer Edge said Model 3 production “is still the primary driver of upside to expectations and shares in 2018.” Highlights From Elon Musk's Combative Tesla Earnings Call<doc-sep>A month after unveiling the new dual motor and dual motor performance versions of the Model 3, Elon Musk confirmed that the first Tesla Model 3 Dual Motor Performance rolled off the company’s new assembly line in Fremont today. Earlier today, we reported on an email Musk sent to employees about the current push to increase Model 3 production to 5,000 units per week. It included bringing up the new general assembly line that Tesla is building up under a giant new tent at the Fremont factory. While they are still working on increasing production, Musk has now confirmed that the line is up and running as it just produced the “first Model 3 dual motor performance.” The CEO released the following picture of the Performance Model 3 off the assembly line: Amazing work by Tesla team. Built entire new general assembly line in 3 weeks w minimal resources. Love u guys so much! Pic of 1st Model 3 dual motor performance coming off the line … pic.twitter.com/Xr55P3fmGd — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 16, 2018 We can see the red brake calipers and the new white interior, which is first only available with the Performance version of the Model 3. The performance version features the same motors (AC in the front and permanent magnet in the rear) as the dual version, but they are picking the highest rated ones with double the burn-in process to make sure they can handle a higher output. Musk also said that the performance version will feature 20” Performance wheels. He claimed it will be 15% quicker than the BMW M3 and with better handling, and “will beat anything in its class on the track.” Here are the other details of the Model 3 performance version announced last month: Range: 310 miles 0 to 60 mph acceleration: 3.5 seconds Top speed: 155 mph Price: $78,000 (without autopilot) Musk hinted that the Model 3 Performance version ‘might’ see further increase in power output in the near future. Tesla is starting production of the new version of the Model 3 now and Musk said that the automaker will gradually increase production to reach volume by September. They started taking orders for both the dual motor and performance version last month. Many of Tesla’s more than 450,000 Model 3 reservation holders had already delayed their orders in order to wait for those new versions of the electric vehicle. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More. Subscribe to Electrek on YouTube for exclusive videos and subscribe to the podcast.<doc-sep>Photo : Tesla In order to achieve production goals, Tesla started up a third production line this weekend. The two existing lines must take up quite a lot of space inside the former GM/Toyota facility, as the third line was built not in the factory, but in a temporary tent structure outside. The tent and the assembly line it houses were allegedly built in the span of three weeks. Advertisement Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted out on Saturday afternoon that the makeshift assembly line had just produced the first Model 3 Dual Motor Performance. Tesla’s Fremont, California facility was once the home of the NUMMI joint-venture between GM and Toyota. From 1984 until the plant was shuttered in 2010, an average of 6,000 vehicles rolled off of the assembly line every week. At its peak, in 2006, more than 8,200 cars were assembled per week. Tesla, owner of the factory since Toyota left in 2010, has thus far struggled to reach production targets of 5,000 units per week. Tesla itself proudly touts the plant’s combined 5.3 million square feet of manufacturing and office space, with plans to expand that to nearly 10 million square feet. When you add in the 4.9 million square feet of operational space that Tesla claims for the Sparks, Nevada Gigafactory, they already have nearly as much factory space as Ford’s famously large River Rouge plant. Tesla is no fan of lean production, using a huge team of assembly workers, and warehousing many of their own production components on site. Allegedly, the factory also houses an indoor test track. With these considerations in mind, it’s possible the company wasn’t able to fit another assembly line inside the 5 million square foot facility, but if that is true, it seems absurd. Advertisement To everyone who ordered a new Tesla Model 3, there’s every chance it will be built in this temporary structure that was probably designed to house an Oktoberfest beer hall.<doc-sep>It might not be the most ideal solution, but Tesla has found a way to start cranking out all-wheel-drive performance variants of the Model 3. Elon Musk tweeted on Saturday that Tesla now has a new assembly line. There's a catch, though -- it's in a temporary tent structure outside its Fremont, California, facility. According to Musk, the whole shebang was put together in three weeks with "minimal resources." Amazing work by Tesla team. Built entire new general assembly line in 3 weeks w minimal resources. Love u guys so much! Pic of 1st Model 3 dual motor performance coming off the line … pic.twitter.com/Xr55P3fmGd — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 16, 2018 It's unclear why Tesla decided to build the latest variant of the Model 3 -- the all-wheel-drive performance version -- closer to the elements, but it's possible that it could have some space issues inside. The automaker didn't immediately return a request for comment, so it's unclear how permanent this solution is, and whether or not it's related to space issues inside its 5.3-million-square-foot facility. A tweet from Ed Niedermeyer paints the new assembly line as a temporary thing. He allegedly found the permit for the tent, which has approval "for up to six months after issuance," but Tesla was not immediately available to confirm the veracity of the permit. Looks like Tesla's new tent-based assembly line is currently only temporarily permitted for "up to six months." pic.twitter.com/THOAkNf7sR — Problem Magnet (@Tweetermeyer) June 18, 2018 In May, Elon Musk finally let slip some details on its latest Model 3 variant. A more traditional all-wheel-drive variant will command a $5,000 premium, dropping the 0-60 time to 4.5 seconds and packing 310 miles of range. A performance variant will boost output and drop that acceleration figure to just 3.5 seconds, but it'll cost about $78,000 fully loaded, which shoots into BMW M3 territory -- both in terms of performance and price.<doc-sep>
Electric car manufacturer Tesla Inc. has set up an additional, no-frills production line to churn out vehicles, according to Chief Executive Elon Musk. Musk tweeted a photo Saturday of a general assembly line that he said was built in three weeks with “minimal resources.” The photo shows a Model 3 rolling off the line in what appears to be a temporary tent-like structure. Musk described the car as the first dual-motor performance Model 3. Amazing work by Tesla team. Built entire new general assembly line in 3 weeks w minimal resources. Love u guys so much! Pic of 1st Model 3 dual motor performance coming off the line … pic.twitter.com/Xr55P3fmGd — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 16, 2018 The dual-motor, all-wheel-drive performance vehicle is a faster and more powerful version of the mass-market Model 3. It will also be more expensive — the sticker price of a dual-motor Model 3 is $78,000, compared with the $35,000 price tag for the base model. Tesla has been beset by manufacturing problems, including the use of cutting-edge robotics that ended up slowing production rather than speeding it up. Musk said this month that Tesla had worked through many of the issues. Tesla makes its vehicles at a factory in Fremont, Calif. The company confirmed that the new assembly line is in Fremont, but it declined to answer questions about its production capacity, whether any additional lines similar to the new one would be opened and whether the new line would be used solely to manufacture Model 3 vehicles. RELATED: Tesla severance deal is likely to deter laid-off workers from publicizing safety concerns, experts say » Last week, the Palo Alto-based automaker said it was cutting about 9% of its workforce — about 3,600 mostly white-collar employees — in an attempt to become profitable. Musk said at the time that the job cuts would not hurt Tesla’s ability to meet its production goals. samantha.masunaga@latimes.com Twitter: @smasunaga UPDATES: 8:45 a.m.: This article was updated with confirmation from Tesla that the new production line is in Fremont, Calif. This article was originally published at 8:15 a.m.