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Analysts Tour Tesla Factory, Cite “Stunning Progress”

Analysts from Credit Suisse, Stifel Financial and Baird toured the Tesla factory recently. All were favorably impressed with the progress Tesla has made at its production facility.

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Robots on reconfigurable Tesla assembly line

Robots on reconfigurable Tesla assembly line

Analysts from Stifel Financial, Credit Suisse, and Robert W. Baird were given a tour of the Tesla factory in Fremont, California recently. Afterward, they got a chance to sit down with Tesla CFO Jason Wheeler. According to Bloomberg, Steifel analyst James Albertine said,“In roughly one year since our last visit, the progress witnessed is truly stunning.” Tesla has invested amost $1.6 billion in upgrades to the factory in the past 12 months as it prepares to begin manufacturing the Model 3.

Lessons Learned

Credit Suisse analyst Dan Galves reports that Tesla has learned valuable lessons from the Model S and Model X. In particular, he says that engineers were in charge of the Model X design process, leaving little room for input from financing, manufacturing, and purchasing departments.  Now all groups seem to have an equal voice. “Model 3 launch timing and ease of mass production is significantly more important than it was for the Model X,” Galves wrote. “On the Model 3, management indicated that there is a clear focus on ease of build, on-time launch, and cost.”

Battery Costs Tumbing

Robert Baird’s analyst, Benjamin Kallo, says the factory tour convinced him the cost of batteries for Tesla are already half what the rest of the industry is paying and are continuing to fall faster than anticipated. As a result of his findings, he has raised his rating on  Tesla stock to “outperform” and set a target price of $300 a share.

Faster Assembly Lines

All the analysts noted the presence of many more robots on the assembly line since their last visit, but there are more human workers as well. Tesla says it boosted its work force by 29% last year. The total number of people employed at the factory now stands at 13,058.

There are “several football field sized areas spanning the entry to the facility with desks, computers and seemingly invigorated staff,” James Albertine writes. “There was an energy and buzz within the facility that is hard to imagine as an outsider.”

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“Robotics systems are customized, production processes are revolutionary, and attention-to-detail/supply chain management is improving by the minute,” Albertine writes. “We do not believe this production process is one competitors can easily recreate.” Benjamin Kallo of Baird & Co says Tesla’s manufacturing skills will help the company reach its target of more than 25% gross profit margins on the Model X.

The analysts noted that the pace of the Model S assembly line is considerably faster than it was at the time of their last visit. By contrast, the Model X line moves quite a bit slower, with only one Model X built for every 6 or 7 Modes S sedans assembled.

New Stamping Equipment

Credit Suisse analyst Dan Galves commented in his notes after the tour that Tesla’s new aluminum stamping press has 10 to 20 times the output of Tesla’s older machine. That will help the company keep up with demand for its Model S and Model X aluminum bodied cars. The analysts also noted that the new paint shop, with an annual capacity of 500,000 cars, is complete and ready to finish all the cars the company thinks it will be selling by the time the year 2020 arrives.

In all, the analysts were very impressed with what they saw in Fremont and feel the production side of the company is ready, willing, and able to meet all of Tesla’s sales goals for the near and medium term.

Photo credit: Tesla Motors

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Tesla’s next-gen Optimus prototype with Grok revealed

The video shows a new Optimus prototype answering questions and taking some very robotic steps, evidently revealing that the next-generation version is in its early stages of development.

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Tesla’s next-generation Optimus robot with AI assistant Grok has been revealed in a new video shared on X.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk was with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff last night, and it appears the frontman gave Benioff an exclusive look at some upcoming technology.

Tesla talks Semi ramp, Optimus, Robotaxi rollout, FSD with Wall Street firm

The video shows a new Optimus prototype answering questions and taking some very robotic steps, evidently revealing that the next-generation version is in its early stages of development. It features Grok for some additional utility, as it answered questions Benioff asked in the short video.

Here’s what was uploaded to X:

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It appears that there are several big changes to this next-generation version of Optimus, some of which have been discussed by Musk and Tesla in the past.

The first is purely cosmetic, but the gold color that Optimus is wearing in this is a new and fresh look that we have not seen before.

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Perhaps the most interesting change that is evident here is the hands, which are much more detailed than past versions of Optimus:

However, we’re not too sure that these are what will be released with the next-gen Optimus, because they don’t appear to be functional, and they are more reminiscent of mannequin hands than anything.

The hands on Optimus have been a significant part of the program, as they are among the most crucial pieces of equipment on a robot. It needs to be able to perform both delicate and more imposing tasks. Tesla has aimed for Optimus to be able to thread needles or play the piano.

It was one of the most discussed improvements the company mentioned in past comments regarding how it planned to improve from Gen 2 to this next version.

Musk mentioned regarding Optimus:

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“Next-generation Optimus hand, which we have in prototype form, has actuators that have moved to the forearm, just like humans, and they operate the fingers through cables, just like human hands.”

Within Optimus lies a significant opportunity for Tesla to gain considerable strength in terms of market share and valuation.

If Tesla can efficiently develop and deploy the humanoid robot over the next several years, the company stands to gain, as companies will utilize it for tasks that require tedious labor.

Musk recently said Optimus will be a major contributor to Tesla’s valuation moving forward. He believes it will make up roughly 80 percent of the company’s value.

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk to provide more details for Master Plan Part IV

Musk stated that he would be adding specifics to the plan in a later update.

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Credit: xAI/X

Tesla CEO Elon Musk will be adding more specifics to the recently-released Master Plan Part IV. Musk shared the update on social media platform X amidst conversations about the general nature of the Master Plan Part IV. 

In a conversation on X, Musk responded to a post from Tesla retail shareholder and bull Dave Lee, who observed that the currently released Master Plan Part IV could really just be the introduction to the real plan due to its absence of specifics.

Elon Musk responded, stating that he would be adding specifics to the plan in a later update. “Fair enough. Will add more specifics,” Musk wrote in his post.

Tesla has been following Elon Musk’s Master Plans for decades. The first Master Plan, released in 2006, outlined the company’s path from the original Tesla Roadster to the Model 3, as well as the first steps for Tesla Energy. Master Plan Part Deux, released in 2016, covered the ramp of Tesla Energy, the expansion of Tesla’s vehicle lineup, and the rollout of a Robotaxi service.

Master Plan Part 3 was more ambitious as it was generally an in-depth proposal for achieving a global sustainable entry economy by transitioning to electricity-powered vehicles, homes, and industry, which will, in turn, be powered by renewable energy sources like solar and wind. Master Plan Part 3 also included a five-step plan to accomplish this, allowing the world to transition to a fully electrified future. 

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Master Plan Part IV, which was released a few days ago, focused on automation and artificial intelligence to achieve sustainable abundance. But while the first two Master Plans were very clear and specific and Master Plan Part 3 was very in-depth, Master Plan Part IV was quite general and vague in comparison. It was easy to tell that Optimus would play a big role in the pursuit of sustainable abundance, but apart from that, there were no specifics as to how Tesla intended to achieve its goals.

Fortunately, these specifics would be discussed by Musk in a later update to the plan.

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Tesla just had its best wholesale month this year in China

Tesla China’s wholesale figures include both vehicles that are sold domestically and exported abroad.

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Credit: Tesla China

Tesla China just had its best wholesale month this 2025 so far. In August, the electric vehicle maker sold 83,192 vehicles wholesale, a 22.55% increase compared to July 2025’s 67,886 units.

Tesla China’s wholesale figures are still down year-over-year, but the company’s momentum seems notable, especially with the arrival of the Model Y L.

August 2025 figures

As noted in a CNEV Post report, August 2025’s 83,192 wholesale figures are 4.04% less than the 86,697 units that were sold in the same period last year. It is, however, a 22.55% improvement from the previous month. From January to August, Tesla China sold 515,552 units wholesale, a 12.24% year-over-year decrease. 

It should be noted that Tesla China’s wholesale figures include both vehicles that are sold domestically and exported abroad. With this in mind, August’s results bode well for Tesla China, as it suggests that Gigafactory Shanghai is now hitting its pace with both its domestic deliveries and its exports. Giga Shanghai serves as Tesla’s primary vehicle export hub.

Model Y L factor

Tesla had a challenging first quarter this year, thanks in part to the changeover to the Model Y across the Fremont factory, Giga Texas, Giga Shanghai, and Giga Berlin-Brandenburg. This changeover resulted in low sales in the first quarter. Political controversies surrounding Elon Musk and violence against Tesla stores and vehicles in the first and second quarters in the United States and Europe did not help much either.

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This Q3, however, Tesla seems to be hitting its stride, especially in China. The launch of the new Model Y L has allowed Tesla to compete in the six-seat, large SUV segment, a market that was previously closed to the standard Model Y. Reports have suggested that Tesla China has been seeing a lot of demand for the Model Y L, which should help the company achieve higher sales this quarter and the remaining months of the year.

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