Elon Musk Has Taken Charge of Tesla Model 3 Production.

Daniel Liberto is a journalist with over 10 years of experience working with publications such as the Financial Times, The Independent, and Investors Chronicle.

Tesla Inc. (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk has resorted to “sleeping at the factory” in an effort to fix costly delays producing the company’s Model 3 electric sedan.

The tech mogul made the confession on Twitter after The Information reported that Musk had taken over Model 3 production from Tesla’s head of engineering, Doug Field. In an exchange of tweets with the reporter who wrote the article, Musk confirmed that he is now camped out near the production line, just as he did when Tesla launched its last vehicle, the Model X.

Musk, however, disputed claims that his more active role had seen him push aside Field, who has been responsible for overseeing manufacturing over the past few months. “Can’t believe you’re even writing about this,” he wrote. “My job as CEO is to focus on what’s most critical, which is currently Model 3 production. Doug, who I regard as one of the world’s most talented engineering execs, is focused on vehicle engineering.”

He added: “About a year ago, I asked Doug to manage both engineering & production. He agreed that Tesla needed [engineering and production to be] better aligned, so we don’t design cars that are crazy hard to build. Right now, tho, better to divide & conquer, so I’m back to sleeping at factory. Car biz is hell …”

About a year ago, I asked Doug to manage both engineering & production. He agreed that Tesla needed eng & prod better aligned, so we don’t design cars that are crazy hard to build. Right now, tho, better to divide & conquer, so I’m back to sleeping at factory. Car biz is hell …

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 2, 2018

Tesla has come under huge pressure to speed up Model 3 production. Customers are queuing up to buy the car and the company desperately needs to sell them after spending billions of dollars preparing for its rollout.

Manufacturing setbacks forced Tesla to slash its production forecasts at the end of first quarter by half to 2,500 cars per week. However, according to an email distributed to employees, Musk claims that the company has been producing closer to 2,000 cars per week. (See also: Elon Musk Jokes About Tesla Bankruptcy After Nightmare Month.)

In the email, reported on by Jalopnik, Musk said it has been “extremely difficult” to pass the 2,000 vehicle per week rate for the Model 3, adding that the company had only just reached that target. Musk, who sent the email to staff at 3:01 a.m. PDT on Monday, described hitting the 2,000 threshold as “mind-blowing progress.” “It took five years to reach the 2000/week production rate for S and X combined, but only nine months to achieve that output with Model 3,” he wrote.

Analysts had been expecting Tesla to fall short of its forecasts ahead of the publication of its first-quarter production numbers. Bloomberg reckons that Tesla was able to manufacture 9,285 Model 3s for the quarter and achieved a final burst of production of as much as 2,200 cars per week. (See also: Tesla's "Hyper-Automated" Assembly Line Could Be Its Downfall.)

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