{"id":25007,"date":"2020-03-21T10:54:57","date_gmt":"2020-03-21T14:54:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=25007"},"modified":"2020-03-21T10:54:57","modified_gmt":"2020-03-21T14:54:57","slug":"why-tesla-resisted-covid-19-ultimatum-to-shutter-model-y-production","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2020\/03\/why-tesla-resisted-covid-19-ultimatum-to-shutter-model-y-production","title":{"rendered":"Why Tesla resisted COVID-19 ultimatum to shutter Model Y production"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"speakable-p-1 p-text\">Tesla Inc. agreed to\u00a0shut down production at\u00a0its Fremont, California, facility by Monday after days of tension with local Alameda County\u00a0authorities over whether its\u00a0facility constituted an &#8220;essential business&#8221; under coronavirus\u00a0shelter-in-place guidelines.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable-p-2 p-text\">The automaker was in the middle of the launch of its\u00a0Model Y electric crossover that one industry analyst deemed\u00a0\u201cmission critical.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-SkjZe6aIxjM\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<aside class=\"wide single-photo\"><div align=\"left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2019\/03\/15\/PDTN\/985ecb9e-ee04-4a31-814e-9692e70881f4-Model_Y_Front_34_Blue.jpg?crop=2490,1105,x683,y614&amp;width=540&amp;height=&amp;fit=bounds&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Tesla, which is in the middle of the launch of its\u00a0Model Y electric crossover, resisted pressure to close its plant.\" width=\"540\" data-mycapture-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2019\/03\/15\/PDTN\/985ecb9e-ee04-4a31-814e-9692e70881f4-Model_Y_Front_34_Blue.jpg?crop=2490,1105,x683,y614\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2019\/03\/15\/PDTN\/985ecb9e-ee04-4a31-814e-9692e70881f4-Model_Y_Front_34_Blue.jpg?crop=2490,1105,x683,y614\" \/>Tesla, which is in the middle of the launch of its\u00a0Model Y electric crossover, resisted pressure to close its plant.\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo: Tesla)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/aside>\n<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">&#8220;We have decided to temporarily suspend production at our factory in\u00a0Fremont, from end of day\u00a0March 23, which will allow an orderly shutdown,&#8221; Tesla said in a statement to investors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The shutdown came a day after the EV pioneer pushed back on the county sheriff\u2019s ultimatum in an email to its employees\u00a0\u2014\u00a0first reported by Electrek.com \u2014\u00a0that it was &#8220;decreasing onsite personnel &#8230;\u00a0while honoring our government commitment to keep our national critical infrastructure running.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Tesla had\u00a0defined \u201cnational critical infrastructure\u201d as \u201cbusiness sectors crucial to the economic prosperity and continuity of the United States and includes auto manufacturing and energy infrastructure as defined by the Department of Homeland Security.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"partner-placement partner-spike\" data-ad-placement=\"native-article_link\" data-ad-sizes=\"[&quot;fluid&quot;,[3,3], [2,6]]\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Tesla\u2019s reticence has been in contrast to Detroit-based automakers that have shut down their operations after concerns from United Auto Workers members and their leadership, including President Rory Gamble.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">J.D. Power Vice President for Data and Analytics Tyson Jominy says that non-union start-up Tesla is under more pressure to produce because it has a thinner portfolio than traditional luxury automakers and because it\u00a0usually makes its U.S. shipments at the end of each quarter.<\/p>\n<div class=\"partner-placement partner-spike\" data-ad-placement=\"native-article_link\" data-ad-sizes=\"[&quot;fluid&quot;,[3,3], [2,6]]\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cModel Y production is mission-critical to Tesla,\u201d Jominy said. \u201cThey\u2019re missing the bulk of the SUV market and the Model Y will greatly increase their market share. They are being watched more than anyone else by investors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">He said Tesla\u2019s revenue structure is also different than other carmakers since it sells directly to consumers. Where other companies book sales revenue to dealers as soon as cars leave the factory, Tesla operates its own dealerships and must deliver to customers to receive cash.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Tesla CEO Elon Musk has resisted the idea that the coronavirus is a crisis. Alameda County, population over 1.5 million, reported 35 cases of COVID-19 by Thursday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">In its note to investors, Tesla said basic operations at Fremont\u00a0would continue after March 23 &#8220;in order to support our vehicle and energy service operations and charging infrastructure.&#8221; Its Nevada battery gigafactory production is unaffected as is its national Supercharging network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tesla Inc. agreed to\u00a0shut down production at\u00a0its Fremont, California, facility by Monday after days of tension with local Alameda County\u00a0authorities over whether its\u00a0facility constituted an &#8220;essential business&#8221; under coronavirus\u00a0shelter-in-place guidelines. The automaker was in the middle of the launch of its\u00a0Model Y electric crossover that one industry analyst deemed\u00a0\u201cmission critical.\u201d Tesla, which is in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25007"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25007"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25008,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25007\/revisions\/25008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}