This Week in Tesla - Tesla Delays Delivery of Chinese-Made Model 3’s, Model Y Deliveries Coming Soon, Working for Tesla Becomes Safer

Tesla Delays Deliveries of Chinese-Made Model 3’s

This week Tesla was forced to delay deliveries of some of the first Model 3’s made in China due to the Shanghai factory having to be shut down. The factory shutdown, in direct response to the coronavirus outbreak, is an attempt to prevent workers, customers, as well as all the people that help get a car to its final destination, from contamination. As confirmed cases of the virus have hit 24,000 in mainland China, the Chinese government has decided to stop some transit as well as temporarily shut down some factories.

Tesla CFO Zachary Kirkhorn noted during the earnings call that the factory is only expected to be closed for 1-1.5 weeks. Although the sales of Chinese made cars were expected to be a great source of revenue in Q1 for Tesla, it is also expected that this short closure will not have a large, long term effect.

Model Y Deliveries Coming Soon

During last week’s earnings call, Tesla revealed the new timeline for Model Y production and also alluded to a production breakthrough. Tesla has wanted to reduce the number of pieces that go into producing the body of the car as it improves rigidity and production costs. They also released photos of the production line to go along with the news about the new body design. The Model Y Deliveries are expected to begin sometime around March or April - months ahead of schedule.

Along with the photos of the production line, a new photo has been released from Tesla which shows the production Model Y. One discernibly meaningful piece of information from the photo is that the window trim, as well as the door handles, now have black chrome as opposed to the chrome trim featured on Models S, X, & 3.

Working at a Tesla Factory Becomes Safer

Tesla released in a blog post on Wednesday that their steps to make their factories safer places to work has had success. After years of being plagued with a higher-than-average workplace injury rate, Tesla has cut that rate in half, now making the Fremont factory an objectively safe place to work. With the stock booming and Tesla becoming a more important and valuable company in the industry, it was crucial that they sorted this out so as to not risk unnecessary injuries and the bad PR they bring.

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