Investor's Corner
Tesla seems to be preparing the Model 3 for a 6,000/week production push
As Tesla heads towards its Q2 2018 financial results and earnings call, the electric car maker seems to be showing signs that it is gearing up for yet another significant Model 3 production push.
In an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek earlier this month, Elon Musk described the Model 3 ramp as a “bet-the-company” situation — a scenario in which the vehicle’s failure would equate to Tesla’s likely collapse. It was a risky gamble, and it gave Musk what he called “permanent mental scar tissue,” but with the company’s milestone at the end of Q2 2018, when it managed to produce 5,000 Model 3 per week, the end of Tesla’s manufacturing hell appears to be within reach.
To fully get out of production hell, Tesla would need to manufacture the Model 3 at scale and at a sustainable rate — a feat that has proven incredibly challenging for the electric car maker. Over the first half of July, signs were abounding that Tesla was once more defying the odds and maintaining its optimum manufacturing rate for the electric car, with mass sightings of Model 3 being transported, test drives for the vehicle being offered, and mass VIN registrations numbering more than 19,000 being filed in a two-week period. If Bloomberg‘s ever-evolving Model 3 tracker is any indication, however, Tesla’s production rate for the electric car appears to have tapered down recently.
While the recent production drop suggested in Bloomberg‘s tracker might appear negative, the publication’s model also forecasts an upcoming spike in Model 3 production. As of writing, a projection for the next few weeks points to Tesla manufacturing 6,000 Model 3 per week. Over the past few months, these instances of slowdowns followed by sudden bursts that reach record production levels have happened several times. In Q2, shutdowns of the Model 3 line corresponded to the installation of upgrades that gave Tesla the capacity to produce more vehicles than before.
Back in April, Tesla shut down the production of the Model 3 to roll out improvements that enabled the company to hit a manufacturing rate of 3,000-4,000 vehicles per week. In May, another set of upgrades were installed that allowed Tesla to get closer to its then-elusive target of producing 5,000 Model 3 per week. Based on the rationale behind Tesla’s previous production shutdowns, it appears that the electric car maker could be in the process of improving the capacity of its Model 3 line once more.
In a way, the slowdown in production reflected in Bloomberg‘s tracker was teased in Tesla Senior Director of Investor Relations Aaron Chew’s meeting with investors and analysts earlier this month. During the meeting, Chew reportedly noted that Tesla is aiming to hit a sustainable production rate of 5,000-6,000 Model 3 for the rest of the third quarter. After this point, Tesla’s ramp for the vehicle would be less radical, with the company reportedly targeting a pace of 7,000 cars per week for Q4 2018, and 10,000 Model 3 per week by mid-2019. Chew also reportedly noted that Tesla’s GA3 assembly line was only running at ~4,000 vehicles per week at the end of Q2 2018, and that the company was only able to hit its 5,000 Model 3 per week target because of an extra ~1,000 vehicles that were manufactured from GA4. Thus, Tesla’s recent slowdown in Model 3 production could correspond to the installation of upgrades for GA3 that would allow it to produce a steady rate of 5,000, or even 6,000 vehicles per week on its own. If these assumptions prove correct, Bloomberg‘s forecast pointing to a 6,000 Model 3 production week definitely becomes plausible.
Tesla is currently attempting to hit profitability this third quarter. To accomplish this goal, the Model 3’s production has to be optimized. Teardowns of the vehicle, both from Germany and in the United States have been unanimous in the conclusion that the Model 3 is profitable. Detroit’s Sandy Munro even noted that the Long Range RWD version of the vehicle could give Tesla as much as 36% worth of profits. At this point, the only thing standing between Tesla and profitability is its capability to scale and sustain the Model 3’s production. If the company achieves this, it would likely prove to be a hard-fought victory for Elon Musk and the Tesla team.
Elon Musk
SpaceX Starship Flight 13 aborted at Zero and Musk just told us what broke
Four Raptor engines failed to ignite at T-zero, forcing SpaceX to scrub Starship Flight 13 Thursday.
SpaceX scrubbed the Starship Flight 13 launch attempt Thursday evening at the last possible moment, after four of the Super Heavy booster’s 33 Raptor 3 engines failed to ignite during the startup sequence. The 90-minute window had opened at 6:45 p.m. EDT from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, and the countdown had proceeded without issue all day, with more than 11.5 million pounds of liquid methane and liquid oxygen being fully loaded into the rocket before the automated abort triggered. SpaceX’s launch directors posted on X, “Standing down from today’s flight test attempt,” and shut down the livestream shortly after.
Musk confirmed the root cause within hours. “Some of the engines didn’t start, triggering an automatic launch abort,” he wrote on X. “To be confident of a good flight, 2 Raptors will be removed and replaced. Most probable launch timing is early next week.” SpaceX engineers began draining propellant tanks immediately and Booster 20 was rolled back to its hangar for inspection.
The timing adds a layer of significance that did not exist during any of the previous 12 Starship flights. This is the first time SpaceX has attempted to launch Starship since the company made its stock market debut in June, listing under ticker SPCX at $135 per share. Public investors are now watching every Starship outcome in real time, and a last-second abort carries more visibility than it would have six months ago.
Flight 13 was designed to be one of the most consequential tests in the program’s history. It was set to carry 20 Starlink V3 satellites, the first operational payload Starship has ever attempted to deploy. Six of those satellites carried external cameras to photograph Starship’s heat shield from the outside during flight, which would act as a self-inspection approach SpaceX has never attempted before. The mission also needed to complete a Raptor engine relight in space, a step SpaceX skipped on Flight 12 in May after losing an engine during ascent. That Flight 12 booster also flipped 90 degrees off course during its boostback burn when five engines failed to reignite.
SpaceX has not announced an official next launch date. Musk’s “early next week” window points to July 21 or 22 at the earliest, pending the engine swap and a return to the pad.
Lucid CEO Silvio Napoli responded to rumors of an imminent bankruptcy that was reportedly being mulled after a report stated the automaker was working with the firm AlixPartners to iron out its next steps.
The company felt a massive loss on Wall Street yesterday, as the report essentially pushed the stock down as much as 55 percent on Tuesday.
The report, published initially by Eletric-Vehicles.com, claimed Lucid was essentially in dire straits and was told by AlixPartners, a commonly used restructuring advisor, to either take shares private or file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Lucid’s head of Communications, Nick Twork, immediately challenged the report and stated the company “has sufficient liquidity to carry its operations well into next year.”
Now, the company’s CEO is chiming in as well, stating that the report is “so far from the facts that they require a direct response.”
Napoli said:
“Lucid is not considering bankruptcy or a transaction to take the company private. Those reports are false. The Board did not explore either scenario. Period.
As disclosed in our most recent quarterly filing, Lucid has sufficient liquidity to fund its operations well into next year.
We work with outside advisors to improve operational performance and execution. They are not advising Lucid on a take-private transaction or bankruptcy, and any suggestion that they have recommended either course of action to management or the Board is false.
My priority is clear: turn this company around. That is where the leadership team and I are focused.
I look forward to providing a full update during our quarterly earnings call on August 4th.”
🚨 Lucid CEO Silvio Napoli calls rumors of financial issues “so far from the facts that they require a direct response.”
Read his full remarks here: https://t.co/t3Pg1NHvzy pic.twitter.com/LvHUPhO4Qf
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 15, 2026
It seems pretty clear that Lucid is confident things will be okay, and, to be honest, they should not have much to worry about, especially considering the company has been backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) for years. It has solid financial backing, and its sales, while weak, are pretty much right on par with a company of this age.
Lucid also sent a Cease & Desist letter to the publication for their report.
Lucid shares have rebounded nicely and are up nearly 21 percent at the time of publication. As soon as the company dispelled the rumors of bankruptcy yesterday, the stock began to climb back toward more reasonable levels.
Electric vehicle maker Lucid Group has denied rumors of an imminent bankruptcy after a report from this morning sent the stock on a dramatic drop on Wall Street, seeing losses of more than 40 percent during trading hours.
Lucid’s Director of Communications, Nick Twork, responded to the report from Eletric-Vehicles.com, which stated the company’s restructuring advisor, AlixPartners, was asked to review two decisions: taking Lucid shares private or filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The report also claims AlixPartners told the Lucid board to “concentrate on Gravity production while improving its quality, and to temporarily hold back the Lucid Air, the sedan that has defined the company since its launch.”
Twork said:
$LCID The rumors are completely false. The company has sufficient liquidity to carry its operations well into next year, as recently published in its last quarterly filings, and it has not formed any special Board committee to explore the scenarios reported today. Our focus is…
— Nick Twork (@ntwork) July 14, 2026
Shares rebounded after the response to the report, halving its losses as the trading day neared 3 p.m. Eastern.
Lucid has struggled to get its sales off the ground and into more respectable numbers, but the company is in its early years, when things are hard to begin with. It is also backed by several notable investors, including the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has nearly limitless money and likely would not ditch an investment of this size so soon.
Lucid shares were down just 14 percent at the time of publication, a far cry from the 55 percent its losses topped out at during the day.
Tesla enters two new markets on two different continents in one week
SpaceX announces new Starship 13 test flight target date
