Tesla aims to make 6,000 Model 3 cars per week by end-June - report

(Reuters) - Tesla Inc is aiming to produce 6,000 Model 3 cars per week by the end of June to reach its weekly production target of 5,000 after accounting for a margin of error, automotive news website Electrek reported https://electrek.co/2018/04/17/tesla-model-3-production-goal-6000-units-per-week on Tuesday.

The news comes a day after Tesla temporarily suspended its Model 3 assembly line in what the company said was a planned production pause.

The pause - the second since February - was meant to improve automation and systematically address bottlenecks to increase production, a regular move by car companies, Tesla said on Monday.

"We will be stopping for three to five days to do a comprehensive set of upgrades. This should set us up for Model 3 production of 3,000 to 4,000 per week next month," Electrek quoted Tesla CEO Elon Musk as saying in a letter to employees.

"Another set of upgrades starting in late May should be enough to unlock production capacity of 6,000 Model 3 vehicles per week by the end of June," Musk added in the letter, according to Electrek.

Tesla did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.

In order to achieve the 6,000-unit target, all Model 3 production at Tesla's Fremont, California factory will move to 24/7 operations, Musk reportedly said.

Any Tesla department or suppliers that misses the target will need to have a "very good explanation," along with a plan for fixing the problem, Musk was quoted saying in the letter.

Shares of Tesla, which ended 1.2 percent lower on Tuesday, rose 1.4 percent in after-hours trading.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Venugopal, Supantha Mukherjee and Sonam Rai in Bengaluru; Editing by Patrick Graham, Arun Koyyur and Sai Sachin Ravikumar)