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Bloomberg
Tesla Inc. pushed back the reveal of its semi truck by three weeks as Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk focusses on boosting production of the cheaper sedan that the electric-car maker is counting on to dramatically increase sales.
Resources are being diverted to address the bottlenecks holding back the Model 3, Musk said. He’s also delaying the semi unveiling to November 16 because Tesla is prioritising efforts to increase battery output for Puerto Rico, which has sought the company’s help to restore power following Hurricane Maria.
Tesla built only 260 Model 3 sedans during the third quarter, less than a fifth of its 1,500-unit forecast. The company has offered scant detail about the problems it’s having producing the mission-critical car that starts at $35,000. A delayed ramp up risks the ire of some of the almost half a million reservation holders who started paying $1,000 deposits early last year. “We are deep in production hell,†Musk wrote, in response to a tweet asking whether those on the Model 3 waiting list would get more information about their car.