Tesla plans to operate its Fremont, Calif. Factory all day, every day in a last-ditch effort to increase weekly production of its new Model 3 cars to 6,000 by the end of June, according to an internal email that CEO Elon Musk sent to employees on Tuesday.
To hit that target, Tesla is adding an extra shift at the factory.
The lengthy email, initially leaked to auto news site Jalopnik and verified by Coins2Day, confirms earlier reports that Tesla would first suspend production for several days to retool its factory for the increased production. The push follows production problems at the factory that have kept the company from meeting its manufacturing targets and worrying investors.
“Starting today at Giga and tomorrow at Fremont, we will be stopping for three to five days to do a comprehensive set of upgrades. This should set us up for Model 3 production of 3000 to 4000 per week next month,” Musk wrote in the email.
Tesla will complete another set of upgrades in late May that “should be enough to unlock production capacity of 6000 Model 3 vehicles per week by the end of June,” Musk continued in the email.
Tesla’s production problems were first revealed in early October when the automaker reported it had produced just 260 of its new Model 3 electric cars in the third quarter and delivered only 220. Production improved to 2,425 Model 3s in the fourth quarter and 1,542 deliveries, but it was still below expectations.
Tesla reported earlier this month that it had fallen well short of its target to produce 2,500 Model 3s per week by the end of the first quarter. The company produced 2,020 Model 3 vehicles in a week at the end of the quarter, prompting Musk to admit that his reliance on automation had caused production bottlenecks.
The company produced 2,250 Model 3 vehicles as well as 2,000 Model S sedans and Model X SUVs last week, Musk said in the email.
The leaked email follows a string of problems at Tesla, including a report by Reveal that said the company had underreported worker injuries to regulators. It also got into a public fight with the National Transportation Safety Board over its investigation of a fatal Model X crash near San Francisco.
Musk’s email also covered a host of other topics, including comments about the growing number of contractors, some of which are “worse than a drunken sloth.” He also spoke about improving the quality of Tesla’s finished products—an area critics of the vehicles have targeted—and eliminating unnecessary meetings and costs.