Tesla planning Gigafactory in China
And maybe in Europe, too, CEO Elon Musk hints.
SAN FRANCISCO – Tesla’s next Gigafactory, a combination car- and battery-making plant, will be built near Shanghai, a top official disclosed during the company’s shareholder meeting.
“The cars we’ll be building in that factory will be incredible,” Robin Ren, Tesla’s worldwide head of sales, said before declining to offer any more details because the official announcement is still a few weeks away.
CEO Elon Musk then added that he still sees a future with 10 to 12 Gigafactories. At present, Tesla makes cars south of San Francisco in Fremont and has its lone Tesla “Gigafactory,” which makes only batteries, outside Reno.
He also hinted at a third plant: “Europe maybe by the end of the year — we just need to figure out where to put it.”
Musk told shareholders that delays on the company’s critical Model 3 sedan were both regrettable but explainable.
“We’re doing everything we can to make our product as good and as fast as possible,” said Musk, who is trying to ramp up Model 3 production from 3,500 a week to a targeted
5,000 a week in the next month. “This is going to sound really cheesy, but we build our cars with love. We really care.”
In addition to promising that Model 3 production targets would soon be met, Musk and a few of his top lieutenants shared a smattering of news that sheds light on some of the company’s biggest plans.
Tesla’s next vehicle, the Model Y crossover, should be available to consumers around
2020, along with the Tesla Semi truck and the revamped Roadster sports car, Musk said.
“The Roadster will have a SpaceX option package,” Musk said to laughter, though it’s unclear if he was being serious. “It’s a crazy car. It’s important for us to show that an electric vehicle can outperform a gas car in every way. That will get rid of the halo effect of gasoline cars, and that’s powerful for the public.”
Besides leading Tesla, Musk is also CEO of Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, the rocket maker based in Hawthorne, Calif.
Musk also made a few comments about Autopilot, which has been in the news lately after recent Tesla crashes.
“We’ll have a new version of Autopilot rolling out next week, which will have significant improvements,” Musk said. “Its reliability and capability will increase exponentially over the next six to 12 months.”
Also on the vehicular front, Musk said Tesla would begin offering Model 3 test drives in some of its store locations by the end of the month. Currently, the 400,000 reservation holders for the car have had to order without the ability to take one for a spin first.
Other quick takeaways from the session with shareholders:
❚ Tesla will not be building a motorcycle. Musk said he used to ride but was almost killed by a truck. “So we’re not going to do motorcycles.”
❚ Anyone waiting for the cheaper, $35,000 version of the Model 3 will have to wait. “We would do so now if it was physically possible, but it’ll be in the first quarter of next year,” he said.
❚ Tesla will start opening its own body shops. “In some locations, we may even be able to offer same-day body repair,” he said.
The annual meeting kicked off with shareholders voting down a number of proposals, including one that would have required Tesla to have an independent director. Musk currently is both CEO and chairman of Tesla.
Shareholders also renewed the appointments of three existing board members, which CtW Investment Group argued were not truly independent board members.