Tesla
- Tesla is rapidly growing its worldwide manufacturing footprint.
- The company is operating factories in California, Nevada, New York, and China.
- A new plant is under construction in Germany, and Tesla just announced another factory will be built near Austin, Texas.
- In just a few years, Tesla has become a global manufacturing juggernaut, supporting its goal of becoming the biggest provider of sustainable transportation and energy.
I can remember a time when Tesla barely made any cars. That was back in 2010, when it had just taken over a former GM-Toyota plant near San Francisco. The only car for sale was the original Roadster, and just a few thousand had hit the road.
Fast forward to 2019, and Tesla had sold 250,000 vehicles in a single year, with the goal of doubling that total in short order.
The company's growth is accelerating, but to satisfy demand for new and existing products, and to reach global markets more directly and at lower cost, it's rapidly expanding its manufacturing capability. Four factories could be six in two years, as plants in Germany and Texas come online.
The scale that this expansion provides could enable Tesla to become more solidly profitable. But it could also increase the company's already huge lead over its EV competition.
Here's a closer look at how all these factories fit into the master plan, which goes beyond just cars:
Let's start with Tesla's factory in Fremont, CA, on the east side of San Francisco Bay.
Tesla bought the plant in 2010, after General Motors went bankrupt and slimmed down its assets. In a previous life, the factory was called New United Motor Manufacturing (NUMMI) and was jointly operated by GM and Toyota.
The factory has been humming away for a decade; it has a production capacity of 500,000, but thus far Tesla has only managed about half of that.
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