Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk said that workers would need to be sleeping at the assembly line at the Texas Gigafactory for the company’s upcoming mass-market electric vehicle (EV), which is slated for production in mid-2025.
The upcoming vehicle, reportedly codenamed “Redwood,” is positioned as an affordable option in Tesla’s lineup, with aims to price it below $30,000.
“We really need the engineers to be living on the line. This is not sort of an off-the-shelf ‘it-just-works’ type of thing,” Musk told investors in an earnings call last week. “That will be a challenging production ramp. We’ll be sleeping on the line, practically. Not practically, we will be.”
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Musk’s vision involves incorporating revolutionary manufacturing technologies that, while promising to elevate Tesla’s production capabilities to unprecedented levels, will initially demand extreme dedication from the team.
This approach is not new to Tesla, it’s part of Musk’s signature “ultra hardcore” work culture. Similar strategies were employed during the production of the Model 3 in 2017, a period Musk has referred to as “production hell.”
It is hell as it’s the employees who are tasked to bear the brunt of Musk’s tendency to overpromise (and eventually underdeliver, or just make things up like “Full Self-Driving” and pass them off as branding).
The Verge, which talked to employees who went through the experience, described it as having “extremely long hours, unsafe working conditions, harassment, scandals, fines, lawsuits, and above all else, a fear that one false slip will lead to termination.”
Investors, on the other hand, are probably not going to be happy about how the “ultra hardcore culture” will affect the bottomline.
Pronouncements like this are not unusual for Musk. They have, in the past, helped drive up stock price (they didn’t this time). These days, they just seem to underline shortcomings.
These pronouncements also come shortly after a few significant events: among them, massive recalls, an attempt from Musk to blackmail investors into giving him “~25% voting control” shortly before a Delaware court ruled to void Musk’s $56 billion Tesla pay package, and Chinese-owned BYD overtaking Tesla in global EV sales.
Information for this story was found via Business Insider, Reuters, The Verge, and the sources and companies mentioned. The author has no securities or affiliations related to the organizations discussed. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.
