Q: How do you prioritize with so many things going on at once?
Prioritizing has usually been out of desperation, not selection. It’s not, “Oh, let’s sit back and leisurely decide how we shall spend these resources.” It’s, “This isn’t working, if we don’t make it work, we’re gonna go bankrupt, so we better make it work.”
We messed up almost every aspect of the Model 3 production line. There were so many mistakes, the entire company had to be devoted to fixing them. We took everyone off every other project—we all started working on the Model 3. We had to make it work or there wouldn’t be any more Tesla.525
There was no choice. We had to get to high-volume production. It was a chicken-and-egg situation. You can’t make the car at an affordable price unless you have high volume. Without high volume, you can’t sell at an affordable price. So what do you do?526
You take a giant flying leap at high volume and hope you can grab a cliff ledge with your fingertips.527
I felt like Indiana Jones running through the temple. There’s a huge boulder chasing you and you need to jump across a giant pit in the ground. If you slow down, the boulder will crush you, and if you don’t make the leap, you’ll die in the pit. That’s prioritizing.528
Q: How did you motivate the team to do whatever it takes?
I told them we had to go ultrahardcore. They had to prepare for a level of intensity greater than anything they had experienced before.529
I lived in the Fremont and Nevada factories for three years fixing that production line, running around like a maniac through every part of that factory, living with the team. I slept on the floor so the team going through a hard time could see me on the floor and know I was not in some ivory tower. Whatever pain they experienced, I had more.530
I worked to the edge of sanity. There wasn’t any other way to make it work but three years of hell. From 2017 to 2019, I experienced the longest period of excruciating pain in my life. There wasn’t any other way, and we still barely made it. We were on the ragged edge of bankruptcy the entire time. Three years of pain, but it had to be done or Tesla would be dead.531
At this point, I think I know more about manufacturing than anyone currently alive on Earth.
I can tell you how every damn part in that car is made. That’s what happens when you live in the factory for three years.532