For two days, Tesla’s American factory in Fremont stopped production… before resuming it at a rather calm pace. So simple break for maintenance or new clue of the arrival of the Tesla Model 3 “Highland”?
It didn’t take long for Elon Musk’s latest outings on Tesla to be verified in reality. A few days ago, we told you about what the billionaire was announcing to investors, namely a deceleration in production during the summer, in particular due to the exceptional closure of its factories for an “upgrade”. This would have the effect of slightly weighing down the production figures for the third quarter.
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A warning which will therefore not take long to be followed in reality since we learned at the end of last week that the factory in Fremont, California, had indeed been closed on July 25. In any case, this is what our colleagues from Notateslaapp asserted, based in particular on a drone video flying over the factory and showing activity in slow motion. Not to say downright stopped.
Two days off, and here we go again
It is true that the image we have of a production plant is more like that of an anthill full of life than one where the parking lots are empty, the comings and goings of trucks non-existent, the track empty test… In any case, this is what the overview video posted by Met God in Wilderness July 25. But this apparent calm was only short-lived, since less than two days later, the same dronist returned to fly over the Gigafactory in Fremont, noting that life had resumed its course there and that production had been restarted. Although still apparently idling.
According to the drone pilot who publishes a video of his aerial walks over the Tesla factory on a weekly basis, the shutdown only lasted barely 48 hours, which obviously raises questions about the nature exactly what is going on internally.
One more hint from Project Highland?
And how not to obviously think of the Tesla Model 3 “Project Highland”, the future restyled Model 3 that the most impatient are waiting to discover in a few weeks. This is obviously only speculation, but this truce in production, as announced by Elon Musk himself a few days before, could indeed be a clue indicating an “upgrade” of the production lines in order to better prepare the arrival of phase 3 of the American sedan.
Some will say that this quick break from the factory could be more akin to a moment dedicated to the maintenance of the installations rather than to the real update of the production line to accommodate a new model.
Still, the clues are starting to accumulate as to the arrival of the next sedan. Starting with the prices of the current Model 3, phase 2 on our roads since the end of 2020, which are at their lowest, especially on vehicles in stock.
Between the discounts, the bonus and the recent price drop, it is possible to drive in the electric sedan for 35,730 euros. And if low prices were not enough to encourage buying a vehicle in stock rather than configuring your car, delivery times on new cars (which are not in stock) have lengthened (September-October 2023) which also encourages you to choose from the plethora of vehicles available on the brand’s website.
The restyled Model 3, when is it?
If for the moment, on the side of Tesla, the culture of secrecy still and always prevails around the restyled Model 3, its effective arrival should really not delay any longer. And even if the closure of the Fremont plant does not turn out to be related to the arrival of the next model, we still know that the new sedan is ready. It has indeed been photographed or filmed several times on the roads of California, still heavily camouflaged, but already revealing to whoever wants to observe it scrupulously, some elements to come.
Project Highland Spotted
by u/gio6a in teslamotors
If the general look should be strictly identical to the current version, especially in profile (we are talking about a restyling, not a new model strictly speaking), we know that the front end will be largely redesigned with new optics, integrated into a shield which should also be retouched, while at the rear we can already guess thinner lights than currently with boomerang turn signals, and no longer just a small horizontal line.
The interior should also welcome its share of novelties: new vegan materials, disappearance of stalks, tactile steering wheel… Not to mention the software-level integration of Hardware 4. As for the battery, we are already talking about a version signed CATL which would offer 10 % more autonomy compared to current models.
So many elements that will obviously have to be checked on site as soon as Tesla deigns to communicate on the model… Or rather put it directly on the online configurator, overnight, without warning. The Palo Alto firm is customary of the fact! For a 2024 model year, the new restyled Tesla Model 3 could show up at the end of the third quarter, beginning of the fourth. Patience, therefore.
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