When telling his team at Ford(F) that the company was going to embark on building Model T, Henry Ford remarked, “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants, so long as it is black.”
Tesla’s Elon Musk, a fan of Ford, is following in those footsteps, sort of. According to Automotive News European sister site Automobilwoche, Tesla’s (TSLA) Giga Berlin plant is only making Model Y SUVs in two colors: black or white.
European customers who order a Model Y in a different color will have to wait to receive their vehicles from the Shanghai plant, with delivery occurring in March 2023 at the earliest. If Tesla customers order a Model Y in black or white, they can expect to receive delivery of those cars in October.
Automobilwoche reports Tesla has had issues with the paint shop in Giga Berlin since March, which would explain why the factory is only able to produce Model Ys in two colors - "solid black" or "pearl white multi coat."
Issues with production ramp up and now reportedly the paint shop’s limited availability are leading Tesla to shut down operations at Giga Berlin for two weeks in July, as Tesla seeks to optimize production in order to double its current output.
The report states after the updates to the plant’s processes, Giga Berlin will restart with a three-shift schedule, with car bodies only spending 45 seconds at each manufacturing station, as opposed to the 90 seconds prior. The changes will also apply to the paint shop.
Note that in the second quarter Tesla delivered 254,695 units globally, which was in line with estimates that had been brought down by Wall Street analysts as shutdowns in China and the global chip shortage hurt production for Tesla and the industry overall.
Tesla still forecasts its annual global output will grow by 50% this year, and a big part of that will be the ramp ups in Berlin and Giga Austin. Automotive News reports analysts believe the two plants only produced around 6,000 units total in the second quarter.
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