Exactly ten years ago, a new chapter began at Tesla: On June 22, 2012, the first Model S was handed over to its customers in the Fremont factory that had been taken over by competitors. After the Lotus-based Roadster, this was the first car to be developed entirely at Tesla – and, according to Elon Musk’s “secret master plan” published in 2006, was only intended to be the preparation for a more affordable electric car that would become the Model 3.
The cheers of the Tesla customers and employees present and Musk’s big words at the launch of the Model S ten years ago are reminiscent of today’s events such as the opening of the German Gigafactory in March. And yet a lot has changed at Tesla since then.
Tesla 10 years ago with praise for California
The Tesla Fest for the Model S in Fremont was much less of a one-man show with Musk than it seems today. The moderator for the event was not the CEO himself, but George Blankenship, who was VP of worldwide sales at the time.
In front of Musk, the then Chief Technology Officer JB Straubel and Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen had the opportunity to speak and be celebrated. When it was his turn, Musk mentioned a number of other executives, none of whom work at Tesla today.
As he often does today, Musk also thanked the entire team for their efforts. In June 2012, however, he was also pleased about the presence of a representative from the traffic authority NHTSA, which is now causing increasing problems for Tesla because of its autopilot system.
And the CEO, together with the company, praised its then homeland of California: Tesla proves that high-tech production is possible in the state and wants to employ more people in the Fremont factory than previously worked for a joint venture between GM and Toyota.
These 5,000 employees in Fremont have now actually been far exceeded – by the end of 2021 there should have been about twice as many. However, Musk no longer sees much potential for the old homeland. It is true that production at the main plant is also to increase by another 50 percent, as he announced last October.
However, Tesla now has its headquarters in Texas in the new Gigafactory near Austin. Musk recently said that it was built within 18 months – according to him, the approval in California alone would have taken about that long.
Model S plays a minor role today
After starting production in Fremont, Tesla built the first factory to be called the Gigafactory – for batteries together with Panasonic in the US state of Nevada. There are now three more in China, Germany and Texas.
In 2012, Tesla delivered a total of 2,650 Model S after the first ten or so in June. That roughly corresponds to the current production in the Gigafactory in China – per day. In all of 2021, the number of Tesla deliveries was a good 936,000 Model 3, Model Y, Model S and Model X.
The first self-developed electric car is still there, albeit in a form that has been refreshed several times, but compared to the volume models Model 3 and Model Y it plays a subordinate role. When Tesla starts with the Model S, one should imagine what else is to come, said the design boss von Holzhausen, who is the only one of the early comrades-in-arms who is still sometimes on stage with Musk today.
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