On Saturday there was bad news, mainly for those who ordered the Tesla Model Y Performance, but possibly with more far-reaching significance: due to an engine problem, all or at least many deliveries of this electric car from the German Tesla factory were postponed at short notice, reported affected customers. Because the drives for this still come from China, there could also be problems with finished Model 3 and Model Y from the Gigafactory there. But possibly in connection with this, it was also shown on Saturday: In Germany, the Model Y is now also being produced in the Long Range variant.
Model Y Long Range waiting for vans
You have to look closely to see that, but Tesla observers and fans are used to that on Twitter – sometimes they even count how many hundreds of new electric cars in current videos are waiting in front of a gigafactory to be transported. A larger number of freshly produced Model Ys could also be seen during a drone flight past the factory in Grünheide near Berlin this Saturday. But in this case the execution was more important: Tesla had mixed about a dozen Long Range variants among the Model Y Performance familiar from the German Gigafactory – the first to be seen since the official factory start at the end of March.
First of all, when @tobildindh published a Twitter preview of his latest Gigafactory video in the afternoon, he only noted that Tesla is now working in two shifts on Saturdays as well. Even that is new, because until recently there was a 5-day week in Grünheide. The extension (whether Sunday was also added was initially open) could be related to ongoing new hires – according to Brandenburg’s Economics Minister, 500-600 people continue to start in the Gigafactory each month, but according to IG Metall, Tesla recently had to offer higher wages for this.
Even though it’s Saturday, production is running in two shifts today at #GigaBerlin.
Here is a short preview from today.
More later on https://t.co/f7mNxozvnR pic.twitter.com/jqMaLI3FLr— Tobias Lindh (@tobilindh) June 25, 2022
The new Saturday work at Tesla was not discussed that much on Twitter, because @tobilindh shortly afterwards submitted an observation with more direct meaning for customers: At the edge of the Model Y ready for collection on the German site, he discovered two rows of execution Long Range (right side in the photo above), which has not previously existed in Grünheide. With a keen eye, you can spot the good dozen because, unlike the performance version, they don’t have an additional lip on the tailgate that ends as a spoiler. Some can also be identified as Model Y LR by the lighter 19-inch rims. Tesla even seems to be producing the absolute basic version, which according to the configurator will be delivered a month later (November 2022 to January 2023) than Model Y LR with the black 20-inch rims for an additional 2200 euros.
Engine problems only with performance Tesla?
So far, all Model Ys came to Europe in the long-range version from the Tesla factory in China, and due to the limited production in the German Gigafactory and an apparently enormously high performance demand, it was not actually expected that this would change soon . On Saturday things looked different. A connection with the reports about deliveries of German Model Y Performance that were postponed at short notice on the same day would be conceivable. The reason for this is said to be problems with the drive unit. A different unit may be used for the Long Range version than for Performance models, or the same may have been found suitable for the lower LR power and no more for Performance values.
In any case, Tesla does not seem willing to be slowed down by such problems: According to @tobilindh, new Model Ys were also produced in the German factory and picked up by transporters on Saturday. If the engine of performance models has to be replaced or repaired before it is handed over to the customer, the service centers are apparently supposed to do it.
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