Panasonic CEO Says Model 3 Bottleneck Identified, Gigafactory Production to Increase

Panasonic CEO Kazuhiro Tsuga confirmed Tuesday that Tesla’s current production bottleneck has been identified and the Gigafactory will increase efforts, according to Reuters.

The report said:

“Panasonic Corp Chief Executive Kazuhiro Tsuga said on Tuesday that output could soon be increased at Tesla Inc’s “gigafactory” battery plant as the causes of production bottlenecks for Tesla’s Model 3 are now understood.”

Tsuga made the comments during the release of Panasonic’s second-quarter results.

The plant is operated jointly by Panasonic and Tesla and manufactures battery cells for Tesla products. Tesla CEO Elon Musk posted a video last week of a group singing around a campfire on the Gigafactory roof. In a follow-up tweet he explained that he chose to camp out on the roof, as it was more time efficient than traveling to nearby Reno for lodging. He again stressed that Tesla is in “production hell,” and thanked employees at the factor for their hard work.

Tesla said this month that manufacturing woes limited quarterly production of the Model 3 sedan to just 260 of a planned 1,500 vehicle goal. Tesla is scheduled to report earnings on Wednesday, and will likely offer more background on its current production challenges.

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