This SUV is priority for Tesla but Covid-19 causes production challenges

Elon Musk has reportedly highlighted how Tesla's Model Y is top priority for the company and that there is an urgent need to address production challenges, in an email written to employees.

Electrek reported recently, quoting from the letter written by Musk, that Tesla employees have been urged to increase production of Model Y vehicles which may have suffered roadblocks due to the work suspension at the Fremont (California) plant. "It is extremely important for us to ramp up Model Y production and minimize rectification needs. I want you to know that it really makes a difference to Tesla right now," Musk is believed to have written in the letter. "Model Y, especially GA, is the top priority for both production and manufacturing engineering."

While GA refers to General Assembly, rectification needs broadly means the need to address problems that may occur in vehicles which have already passed the assembly line.

Musk has also reportedly written in the letter that other Tesla cars like Model S, X and 3 are faring well but that production and supply chain challenges persist with Model Y 'as is always the case with new products.'

Praising employees of GA line 4 for working under tough conditions, Musk has reportedly mentioned that he would personally walk the line every week.

Model Y is Tesla's fully electric, mid-size SUV which can seat up to seven and boasts of dual motor AWD capabilities. It claims to hit 60 miles per hour in just 3.5 seconds and has a claimed range of around 316 miles (510 kilometres). At Supercharger locations, Model Y can be charged for just 15 minutes for a range of 158 miles (250 kilometres).

Tesla has pinned a lot of its hopes on Model Y and the production ramp up could have been on schedule if not for the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting consequences of it. Musk was engaged in a bitter battle with health officials of Almeda county where the Tesla plant is located at. While work was suspended for several weeks as per official directives, Musk had had enough by early May and even courted arrest by opening the plant without permission from health officials. US President Donald Trump stepped in before county officials relented.