Tesla's Production Guidance Is 'Implausible,' Pro Says

's production guidance of 500,000 units by 2018 has been well communicated to investors while analysts aren't fully convinced that the company's ambitious plans are possible. According to a report from

there just may be too many moving pieces for Tesla to put together to achieve its targets. For starters, Tesla's Model 3 features 6,000 to 7,000 unique components. While this is few than a typical combustion engine car with more than 8,000 parts, the company is still in the process of soliciting bids for parts and machinery. Meanwhile, Tesla's own production facilities in Fremont California requires additional stamping, welding and assembly machines that according to Ron Harbour of Oliver Wyman "could take up to 18 months to order and install." And then there is the fact that the Model 3 design and specifications haven't been finalized yet. Tesla's CEO Elon Musk previously suggested this will be completed by June, 13 months ahead of the company's planned production startup. However, under ideal conditions, automakers typically wait at least 18 month, if not up to 3 years, before beginning production on a new car. Jeff Schuster of industry forecaster LMC Automotive told Reuters that Tesla's production guidance is merely "implausible" given the fact that its battery factory in Nevada is still under construction. Finally, Sam Fiorani of AutoForecast Solutions pointed out that the already short supply of aluminum, lithium and other key materials "could be another limited factor."