Tesla has come a long way from the scrappy startup many people doubted would survive. It has announced the production of its 3 millionth car.
The American company was created in 2004 but started production in 2008. CEO Elon Musk broke the news of the milestone at Tesla’s shareholders’ meeting, noting the 3 millionth car was made some weeks ago. It reached the 1 million mark in March 2020.
The Fremont factory is responsible for most of the production, manufacturing its 2 millionth car last month. Three other factories, Giga Shanghai, Giga Berlin, and Giga Texas, are ramping up production.
Tesla is also expanding Giga Shanghai by adding a new facility capable of 450,000 units per annum.
Commenting on the future, Musk said he would be surprised if Tesla did not surpass the 100 million mark. That may look unrealistic, but the company is aiming for a 20 million per year manufacturing capacity by 2030. Musk said Tesla would need about 12 Giga Factories to meet that goal.
In the short term, Tesla wants to end 2022 with a 2 million production capacity.
He also said Tesla would probably select the site for a new Giga Factory before the end of this year. However, there have been reports that Musk had agreed to build the next Giga Factory in Indonesia.