The company announced the halting of Model S and X vehicle productions at their Bay Area factory, opening up new manufacturing space for their newest version of their humanoid robot, the Optimus Gen 3
On Wednesday, Elon Musk announced on an earnings call that Tesla would be ending its production of Model S and X vehicles, in order to leave room for Optimus robot manufacturing at its Fremont production facility.
“It’s time to bring the Model S and X programs to an end with an honorable discharge,” Musk elaborated on Tesla’s decision to discontinue the production of these models in the Bay Area factory. “We’re really moving into a future that is based on autonomy.”
He added, “We expect to wind down S and X production next quarter. Basically, stop production next quarter.”
The Fremont factory will continue to manufacture Model 3 and Y vehicles, with this new opening within the facility will be put to use for Optimus manufacturing.
“We’re going to take the Model S and X production space in our Fremont factory and convert that into an Optimus factory, with the long-term goal of having a million units a year in the current S-X space in Fremont,” Musk remarked. “It is time to bring the S-X programs to an end…it’s part of our overall shift to an autonomous future.”
The Optimus Gen 3 will be Tesla’s newest upgrade since the 2.5 version highlighted in 2025. The company says that this latest model will contain major upgrades, including a new hand design.
Musk predicted that Optimus, a humanoid robot, would eventually have the capability to take over work at the Tesla factories, become a home assistant and even a surgeon.
Scroll to continue reading
“This Optimus will really be a general-purpose robot that can learn by observing human behavior,” Musk explained. “You can demonstrate a task, or literally verbally describe a task, or show it a task, even show it a video, and it will be able to do that task. So, it’s going to be a very capable robot.”
Despite viral footage of a Tesla Optimus toppling over at a demo in Miami, as well as the departure of the company’s head of robotics, it’s clear that much is riding on this new Tesla Optimus Gen 3 robot and its expanded manufacturing plans.
