Tesla has built six million cars!

Tesla has deployed six million cars worldwide since its first model, the Roadster, which was launched nearly two decades ago.

The Tesla adventure began with a small bank loan, a few enthusiasts convinced that the electric car was the model of the future, and a lot of sweat and tears! In year 1, 2,400 Roadsters were handcrafted in a workshop in Menlo Park, California.

Then came the Model S sedan, which was born in the Fremont factory, becoming Tesla’s first mass-produced product. At that time, the car manufacturer hoped to produce up to 20,000 vehicles per year, which was very ambitious given the capacities of the time. Tesla had just underestimated the threshold of what was possible, as the manufacturer now celebrates the six millionth car produced, a totally surreal figure for an automotive manufacturer that didn’t exist less than twenty years ago.

The World According to Musk

Even more crazily, Tesla’s catalog includes only six models since the brand’s inception: the Roadster, which will have a successor very soon, the Model S, 3, X, and Y, and the Cybertruck pickup launched at the end of 2023. Behind these figures is a man who is loved to be hated and hated to be loved, Elon Musk. This visionary has managed to build an empire by placing no limits on himself, not even space.

To mark the occasion, the car manufacturer has posted a video on X. Tesla employees pose in the Fremont factory alongside a matte gray Tesla Model Y, which is car number carrying the magic number 6,000,000. The Model Y was the best-selling car in the world in 2023, with over 1.23 million registrations. For the first time in history, an electric vehicle has claimed this crown of queen of the automotive world.

The five millionth car rolled off the production line in mid-September 2023, just six months after the automaker announced its four millionth. For comparison, it took Tesla 12 years to build its first million cars. At this level, it’s no longer exponential; it’s unreal.

Behind these numbers, there are men but above all unique manufacturing tools in the world. Giga Shanghai has an annual capacity of 750,000 units, with a potential production capacity of 950,000 units. Meanwhile, at its new factory, Giga Berlin, the automaker has reached a production rate of 6,000 units per week, or 312,000 per year.

Last fall, Tesla announced that it had reached a total production capacity of over 2,350,000 units per year.