Tesla is preparing for what CEO Elon Musk describes as a “new book” in the company’s history, outlining aggressive production expansion plans after asserting that the automaker is now only months away from achieving reliable Unsupervised Full Self-Driving (FSD).
Speaking during Thursday’s annual shareholder meeting, Musk said Tesla will begin pushing vehicle output far beyond current levels on the basis that Tesla now believes it has effectively “solved” autonomy—or is within striking distance.
“Now that we believe we have full self-driving, that we have autonomy solved or at least within a few months of having it unsupervised autonomy solved at a reliability level significantly better than human – that means it’s time to ramp up production because the value proposition is now much greater than a regular car,” he told investors.
With that milestone finally in sight, Musk is now pushing for what would be one of the most aggressive growth ramps in Tesla’s history.
Aiming for 50% Higher Production by End of 2026
Musk laid out what he called “aspirational goals” for Tesla’s next three years, all of them tied to the assumption that autonomy will meaningfully increase vehicle demand—and justify major manufacturing expansion.
According to Musk, Tesla is aiming to:
- Increase vehicle production by roughly 50% by the end of 2026.
- Reach 2.6–2.7 million annualized units by the end of next year.
- Climb to 4 million annualized units by the end of 2027.
- Hit 5 million annualized units by the end of 2028.
Tesla’s current installed capacity is just over 2.35 million vehicles, meaning these targets would require substantial factory upgrades, supplier expansion, and new manufacturing efficiencies across every plant. “This is a gigantic increase in output, which means that the entire supply chain has to move in unison,” Musk said. “The nature of producing a large complex product is that it moves as fast as the least lucky, dumbest element in the entire system.”
A New Book, Not a New Chapter
In classic Musk fashion, the CEO said Tesla is not simply moving into a new chapter, but opening an entirely new book—one defined by exponential growth in both vehicles and robots. Alongside its vehicle ambitions, Tesla also plans to ramp its Optimus humanoid robot “faster than anything’s ever been ramped up before in history.”
If Tesla does hit its autonomy milestone in the coming months, these targets represent a major shift in strategy from the slower, demand-constrained production pace seen through much of 2025.
