Tesla Paused Model 3 Production In February To Deal With Bottlenecks

Tesla suspended production of the Model 3 for a week in late February, in a bid to make improvements on the line that will eventually allow them to boost the output of their entry-level electric vehicle.

The production of the Model 3 was idled from Feb.20 to Feb.24 at the company’s Fremont factory, Bloomberg reports.

“Our Model 3 production plan includes periods of planned downtime in both Fremont and Gigafactory 1,” Tesla said. “These periods are used to improve automation and systematically address bottlenecks in order to increase production rates. This is not unusual and is in fact common in production ramps like this.”

Ramping up production of the Model 3 has taken Tesla longer than expected and is more challenging than originally anticipated. The company is currently targeting a weekly rate of 2,500 cars by the end of this month and 5,000 by the end of June.

It its last letter to shareholders, Tesla Motors asked for patience as both buyers and investors are still waiting for progress on deliveries, saying that the launch of the Model 3 has “demonstrated the difficulty of accurately forecasting specific production rates at specific points in time.”

Tesla is currently enjoying a stock market value of around $55.3 billion, which is higher than that of GM or Ford.