Tesla said it will shut down production at its California assembly plant for a week this month to prepare for production of its high-volume Model 3 sedan.
Tesla said the “brief, planned” pause would allow the company to add capacity to the existing paint shop to prepare it for the Model 3, and other general maintenance.
Tesla aims to start Model 3 production in July.
“This will allow Tesla to begin Model 3 production later this year as planned and enable us to start the ramp towards 500,000 vehicles annually in 2018,” said a Tesla spokesman.
He added that the pause was not expected to have a material impact on first-quarter production or delivery figures, as the company had added production days to compensate.
Separately, sources told Reuters that the luxury electric carmaker planned to begin test-building the Model 3 on Feb. 20.
Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk last year told investors and more than 370,000 customers who put deposits down for a Model 3 that he intended to start building the cars in July 2017.
At the time, many analysts and suppliers said the timeline was too ambitious and would be difficult to achieve, pointing to Tesla’s history of missing aggressive production targets.
If Tesla succeeds in starting pilot production of the sedan at its factory in Fremont, California on Feb. 20, as people familiar with the matter told Reuters, the company would be able to share the news with shareholders two days later when it reports fourth-quarter results and better answer any questions about the Model 3 rollout.
The sources did not know how many of the highly anticipated vehicles Tesla aimed to build in February, but it would likely be a small number to test the assembly system and the quality of vehicle parts.
The Tesla spokesman declined to comment on the company’s production schedule.
Musk had told investors last year that the company could miss the July 2017 startup target if suppliers do not meet deadlines.
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