Tesla Model 3 News: 2018 To Be Make-Or-Break Year As Automaker Continues To Go Through 'Manufacturing Hell'
2017 has been a tough year for Tesla but the New Year does not release them from the problems that plagued them. The electric automaker now faces a make-or-break year with Model 3 production still is still below expectations and a looming financial meltdown on the horizon.
Tesla began 2017 with half a million preorders for the Model 3, each worth $1,000. So far it has only produced half that number and despite the fact that the Tesla fleet is 100 times larger than it was five years ago, it is still not enough for the company to turn a profit.
A recent report revealed that production for its mass-market model is still lagging behind, only reaching 5,000 vehicles per week in the fourth quarter of 2017. The automaker promises to ramp up production of the entry-level sedan this year, something it must achieve to boost investor confidence at a time when it desperately needs a fresh infusion of capital.
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Tesla has been burning through capital at a staggering rate, so much so that unless new funds are poured in, the company will have virtually no funds by August of this year.
This doesn't help the fact that Tesla has also been putting, even more, pressure on itself by promising a new innovative product: the Tesla Semi. The company must now satisfy not only the hundreds of thousands of would-be Model 3 owners but also the people that were awed by the prospect of an electric semi to revolutionize the trucking industry.
Unless Tesla puts every factory it has running at maximum output and efficiency to pump out thousands of Model 3s every week, it will be unable to reach profitability within the decade. And time is running out fast with established automakers already taking bites out the company's market share slowly chipping away at lead it had established through hype and innovation.
