Elon Musk says Tesla had a ‘very tough quarter’ and needs to rally in leaked email

June 13, 2022 by admin 31 Comments

Elon Musk says that Tesla had a “very tough quarter” and asks employees to needs to “rally hard to recover” in leaked emails.

Over the weekend, Tesla CEO Elon Musk sent emails to employees and Electrek obtained copies.

In the first email, Musk tried to instill meaning about building Tesla products to workers:

“We *actually* build great, real products that people love and make their lives and the world better. That is so profound. It is an honest day’s work that you can feel in your heart. Whatever else is going on in this messed-up world, know that at least what you are doing is pure goodness and that I have infinitely more respect and admiration for you than the richest person on Wall St.”

The next email was more familiar. Musk often sends emails to rally the troops at the end of quarters to push for deliveries and this is one of those emails.

The CEO wrote it was a “very tough quarter” and employees need to “rally hard to recover”:

“This has been a very tough quarter, primarily due to supply chain and production challenges in China, so we need to rally hard to recover!”

Earlier this week, Electrek reported that Musk warned Tesla workers of a ‘nutty’ end-of-quarter delivery wave for the same reason.

By “supply chain and production challenges in China”, Musk is referring to Gigafactory Shanghai being closed for weeks earlier in the quarter, along with several suppliers, due to the restrictions to control COVID cases in Shanghai.

The CEO said that production is now “returning to full strength” in Shanghai.

Interestingly, Musk also gave some insight into the production status at other Tesla factories.

He wrote about Fremont:

“I’d like to congratulate the Fremont team for achieving a new all-time record production day last week,”

We reported this week that Tesla now produces more cars at Fremont factory than when it was operated by GM and Toyota.

The CEO also announced that Gigafactory Berlin achieved the production of “almost” 1,000 Model Y vehicles in a week for the first time last week.

Tesla originally aimed for Gigafactory Berlin to achieve a production of 1,000 vehicles per week in April, but we reported that the factory was nowhere near that at the time.

Musk also said that “Austin is spooling up” – referring to Gigafactory Texas.

He didn’t disclose the production rate at the factory, but he said during a company-wide meeting earlier this week that Gigafactory Texas was still limited due to 4680 cell and structural battery pack production.

Here’s the email in full:

Production and Delivery

This has been a very tough quarter, primarily due to supply chain and production challenges in China, so we need to rally hard to recover!

I’d like to congratulate the Fremont team for achieving a new all-time record production day last week and Berlin for making almost 1000 cars last week! This is great stuff.

Shanghai is returning to full strength and Austin is spooling up. Onward to victory!

Elon

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