Agreed these arent customer cars. Although part of me didn't trust the Y's just sitting out outside Austin. Who knows what build they are, where they actually came from, etc. At one there were even a bunch of other Teslas mixed in.. with the "spy" photographs coming out of Austin.
From what I'm aware this is the first time we've seen a legit Austin VIN. Also, pretty sure someone has already posted it here. But there was a post on Reddit that correctly predicted all of this about 20 days. The guy said there would be AWD with around 280 miles of range.. and went on to say the first 2500 would be employed only cars and that "You probably don't want one of those". So at this point, we really can't even get excited until we see VIN# A002501 or whatever.
If you look back on Reddit everything possible has been forecast at one point or another. And really that forecast makes little sense. they have a huge backlog they need to clear of vehicles ordered under current descriptions. Tying up Austin’s production with a new model doesn’t help solve that.
The 400-plus black and blue cars sitting outside the factory have always obviously been legit Austin builds. Dark paint was the startup mode at Berlin and it is the way things are done. Are they MYLR or some bizarre AWD variant? Who knows. They COULD in theory be MYP but that’s a ton of Gemini wheels to swap out. Photos of the inside, either through the windows or inside from production area, have consistently shown dark vehicles.
They’re most likely to be exactly what they look like, 4680 MYLRs. And now the VIN image on EPA website of MYLR Austin build.
But they could in theory be another build, sure.
The rest is not all that confusing, though there are several chapters.
So... those hundreds of black and blue cars are legit Austin made. They and their wheels are the most solid evidence we have to work with. Let’s start there.
Then we have the following:
1) a reputed insider’s buddy “leaked” a shot of several colors in an enclosed truck he swore was leaving the factory. Jury’s out. Now seems at least a little unlikely given the color array but could go either way. Not especially important.
2) A drone sweep of what now seems to be an employee parking area with pretty much nothing but Y’s and 3’s got people wound up a little. I must admit I want the one I the bright blue wrap that keeps popping up. But... it became clear they were employee cars I various colors driven a lot in dust etc. and were almost certainly freemont cars.
3) Jeff Roberts, the diligent drone operator, posted a still shot of multi-colored truckload he said was coming from the factory. I will buy that the truck stopped on factory grounds. Roberts is an honest source. But probably en route from Fremont somewhere else, or picking up cars used for some sort of training. Again, could have been Austin built, probably not. Not a particularly important thing either way.
4) Various drone shots of a supercharger setup at factory has shown several dark Y’s, likely Austin production topping off.
5) Austin shot of white car on a dolly off by itself outside. I think it was primer coat. Maybe I’m right, maybe not. But.. just one. Not complete. In process. Outside maybe about to be scraped. Meanwhile production of nothing else but black and blue continued.
