Except that Tesla is now producing at a weekly rate equivalent to hundreds of thousands of cars per year at their Fremont factory, comparable to other car companies.
But they're still ramping up. The factory will be outputting something like 500,000 to 700,000 cars per year after they're done ramping. They'll need Model Y and/or Semi and at least another factory before they're going to be comparable to other mid-range manufacturers. They'll need at least half a dozen factories to be a major manufacturer. Or they'll need to change how cars are made entirely.
If they can get millions of cars from a single factory, then the high automation that they're shooting for (and which Model 3 had to back off of) might make sense (and is required for getting that kind of production from a single line). But even that will likely need multiple factories to justify the R&D into the factory line itself.
Tesla is now producing at a weekly rate equivalent to hundreds of thousands of cars per year
That's only true if you're a time traveler from the future. But it's only April 2018 here, and Tesla is producing about 2600 cars a week. They produced 12000 cars during the first 3 months of the year.
It's an annualized rate of hundreds of thousands if you include all the models. For the model 3, 2600/wk makes for well over 100k/yr. Model S and X combined are going at an annualized rate of about 100k/yr, extrapolating from last quarter's 24,728 number. Altogether it's over 200k annualized.
But they're still ramping up. The factory will be outputting something like 500,000 to 700,000 cars per year after they're done ramping. They'll need Model Y and/or Semi and at least another factory before they're going to be comparable to other mid-range manufacturers. They'll need at least half a dozen factories to be a major manufacturer. Or they'll need to change how cars are made entirely.
If they can get millions of cars from a single factory, then the high automation that they're shooting for (and which Model 3 had to back off of) might make sense (and is required for getting that kind of production from a single line). But even that will likely need multiple factories to justify the R&D into the factory line itself.