

Investor's Corner
Tesla Gigafactory 1 to see Panasonic’s new battery lines and new Grohmann machines in Q4
Tesla’s upcoming ramp this Q4 2018 is starting to look a lot more encouraging, as Gigafactory 1, the company’s battery and powertrain facility, is set to receive upgraded battery lines from Panasonic, as well as new machines from Grohmann Automation. With these upgrades in place, Tesla’s continued Model 3 push would likely be a lot smoother than the previous quarters.
It is no secret that the Model 3 production ramp has been difficult for Tesla. In an interview earlier this year, Elon Musk described the past twelve months as some of the most difficult and “painful” periods of his career. Despite being in “production hell” for the past year, though, Tesla has started hitting its stride with the manufacturing of the Model 3. This quarter alone, Tesla is aiming to produce 50,000-55,000 units of the electric car — a goal that even a longtime skeptic of the company believes is attainable at this point.
Inasmuch as Tesla would likely break its production records this Q3, the company is just around halfway done with its Model 3 ramp. Tesla expects to increase its output for the vehicle to 10,000 units per week sometime next year as it offers other trims like the $35,000 base Model 3, which will be fitted with a smaller battery pack. To accommodate this upcoming demand, Tesla’s Gigafactory 1 would need to be upgraded.
In a statement to Bloomberg, Tesla partner Panasonic Corp. has announced that it is poised to complete its planned upgrades to the facility’s battery cell production lines earlier than expected. Back in July, Panasonic announced that it would install three new battery cell production lines sometime at the “end of 2018,” but according to Yoshio Ito, head of Panasonic’s automotive business, the Japanese company is now aiming to complete the upgrades earlier than expected. Ito also noted that the bottleneck in Model 3 production had been the result of Panasonic’s challenges in meeting Tesla’s demand.
“The bottleneck for Model 3 production has been our batteries. They just want us to make as many as possible,” Ito said.
The completion of Panasonic’s upcoming upgrades to Gigafactory 1’s battery cell production lines comes amidst the arrival of new machines from Tesla Grohmann Automation, which are designed to boost the electric car maker’s production capabilities. Updates on the new Grohmann machines were related by analysts from Worm Capital who went on a tour of Gigafactory 1 back in August. According to the analysts, Tesla head of investor relations Martin Viecha noted that upgrades from Grohmann, which are set to be sent to Gigafactory 1 by the end of Q3 or the beginning of Q4, would help module production become three times faster and three times cheaper.
“Grohmann Engineering will help module production become three times faster, and three times cheaper, according to Viecha. Their new system will be sent to the Gigafactory by the end of Q3 or beginning of Q4. The Grohmann machine will be in Zones 1, 2, 3, and Tesla will be receiving three machines. The process was designed to alleviate the previous bottleneck in module production which delayed Model 3 production significantly. The machine is already built, and points to the advantage Tesla will have in building future Gigafactories. They have learned many painful lessons, but have a solid blueprint for porting the factory across the world.”
Tesla’s demand for battery cells is set to increase within the coming quarters. As the company sets its sights on more ambitious targets, upgrades to Tesla’s key facilities like Gigafactory 1 could be the determining factor on whether the electric car maker can smoothly ramp production or not. With Panasonic’s upgraded battery cell production lines and the new Grohmann machines, Tesla’s Q4 ramp could very well be the company’s most impressive yet.
Investor's Corner
Tesla investors may be in for a big surprise
All signs point toward a strong quarter for Tesla in terms of deliveries. Investors could be in for a surprise.

Tesla investors have plenty of things to be ecstatic about, considering the company’s confidence in autonomy, AI, robotics, cars, and energy. However, many of them may be in for a big surprise as the end of the $7,500 EV tax credit nears. On September 30, it will be gone for good.
This has put some skepticism in the minds of some investors: the lack of a $7,500 discount for buying a clean energy vehicle may deter many people from affording Tesla’s industry-leading EVs.
Tesla warns consumers of huge, time-sensitive change coming soon
The focus on quarterly deliveries, while potentially waning in terms of importance to the future, is still a big indicator of demand, at least as of now. Of course, there are other factors, most of them economic.
The big push to make the most of the final quarter of the EV tax credit is evident, as Tesla is reminding consumers on social media platforms and through email communications that the $7,500 discount will not be here forever. It will be gone sooner rather than later.
It appears the push to maximize sales this quarter before having to assess how much they will be impacted by the tax credit’s removal is working.
Delivery Wait Time Increases
Wait times for Tesla vehicles are increasing due to what appears to be increased demand for the company’s vehicles. Recently, Model Y delivery wait times were increased from 1-3 weeks to 4-6 weeks.
This puts extra pressure on consumers to pull the trigger on an order, as delivery must be completed by the cutoff date of September 30.
Delivery wait times may have gone up due to an increase in demand as consumers push to make a purchase before losing that $7,500 discount.
More People are Ordering
A post on X by notable Tesla influencer Sawyer Merritt anecdotally shows he has been receiving more DMs than normal from people stating that they’re ordering vehicles before the end of the tax credit:
Anecdotally, I’ve been getting more DMs from people ordering Teslas in the past few days than I have in the last couple of years. As expected, the end of the U.S. EV credit next month is driving a big surge in orders.
Lease prices are rising for the 3/Y, delivery wait times are… pic.twitter.com/Y6JN3w2Gmr
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) August 13, 2025
It’s not necessarily a confirmation of more orders, but it could be an indication that things are certainly looking that way.
Why Investors Could Be Surprised
Tesla investors could see some positive movement in stock price following the release of the Q3 delivery report, especially if all signs point to increased demand this quarter.
We reported previously that this could end up being a very strong rebounding quarter for Tesla, with so many people taking advantage of the tax credit.
Whether the delivery figures will be higher than normal remains to be seen. But all indications seem to point to Q3 being a very strong quarter for Tesla.
Elon Musk
Tesla bear Guggenheim sees nearly 50% drop off in stock price in new note
Tesla bear Guggenheim does not see any upside in Robotaxi.

Tesla bear Guggenheim is still among the biggest non-believers in the company’s overall mission and its devotion to solving self-driving.
In a new note to investors on Thursday, analyst Ronald Jewsikow reiterated his price target of $175, a nearly 50 percent drop off, with a ‘Sell’ rating, all based on skepticism regarding Tesla’s execution of the Robotaxi platform.
A few days ago, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company’s Robotaxi platform would open to the public in September, offering driverless rides to anyone in the Austin area within its geofence, which is roughly 90 square miles large.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirms Robotaxi is opening to the public: here’s when
However, Jewsikow’s skepticism regarding this timeline has to do with what’s going on inside of the vehicles. The analyst was willing to give props to Robotaxi, saying that Musk’s estimation of a September public launch would be a “key step” in offering the service to a broader population.
Where Jewsikow’s real issue lies is with Tesla’s lack of transparency on the Safety Monitors, and how bulls are willing to overlook their importance.
Much of this bullish mentality comes from the fact that the Monitors are not sitting in the driver’s seat, and they don’t have anything to do with the overall operation of the vehicle.
Musk also said last month that reducing Safety Monitors could come “in a month or two.”
Instead, they’re just there to make sure everything runs smoothly.
Jewsikow said:
“While safety drivers will remain, and no timeline has been provided for their removal, bulls have been willing to overlook the optics of safety drivers in TSLA vehicles, and we see no reason why that would change now.”
He also commented on Musk’s recent indication that Tesla was working on a 10x parameter count that could help make Full Self-Driving even more accurate. It could be one of the pieces to Tesla solving autonomy.
Jewsikow added:
“Perhaps most importantly for investors bullish on TSLA for the fleet of potential FSD-enabled vehicles today, the 10x higher parameter count will be able to run on the current generation of FSD hardware and inference compute.”
Elon Musk teases crazy new Tesla FSD model: here’s when it’s coming
Tesla shares are down just about 2 percent today, trading at $332.47.
Investor's Corner
Elon Musk issues dire warning to Tesla (TSLA) shorts
This time around, Tesla shorts should probably heed his words.

Elon Musk has issued a dire warning to Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) short sellers. If they do not exit their position by the time Tesla attains autonomy, pain will follow.
Musk has shared similar statements in the past, but this time around, Tesla shorts should probably heed his words.
Musk’s short warning
The Tesla CEO’s recent statement came as a response to Tesla retail shareholder and advocate Alexandra Merz, who shared a list of the electric vehicle maker’s short-sellers. These include MUFG Securities EMEA, Jane Street Group, Clean Energy Transition LLP, and Citadel Advisors, among others. As per the retail investor, some of Tesla’s short-sellers, such as Banque Pictet, have been decreasing their short position as of late.
In his reply, Elon Musk stated that Tesla shorts are on borrowed time. As per the CEO, TSLA shorts would be wise to exit their short position before autonomy is reached. If they do not, they will be wiped out. “If they don’t exit their short position before Tesla reaches autonomy at scale, they will be obliterated,” Musk wrote in his post.
Tesla’s autonomous program
Tesla short sellers typically disregard the progress that the company is making on its FSD program, which is currently being used in pilot ride-hailing programs in Austin and the Bay Area. While Tesla has taken longer than expected to attain autonomy, and while Musk himself admits to becoming the boy who cried FSD for years, autonomy does seem to be at hand this year. Tesla’s Unsupervised FSD is being used in Robotaxi services, and FSD V14 is poised to be released soon as well.
Elon Musk highlighted this in a response to X user Ian N, who noted that numerous automakers such as Audi, BMW, Fiat-Chrysler, Ford, GM, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, and Toyota have all promised and failed in delivering autonomous systems for their vehicles. Thus, Tesla might be very late in the release of its autonomous features, but the company is by far the only automaker that is delivering on its promises today. Musk agreed with this notion, posting that “I might be late, but I always deliver in the end.”
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