Tesla (TSLA +0.07%) is searching for a location to break ground on a factory for its recently announced Cybertruck, the electric-car maker's CEO said in a tweet on Tuesday evening. The factory would be somewhere in "central USA," according to Elon Musk. In a follow-up tweet, Musk said Tesla is also looking for a second location for Model Y production -- this one on the East Coast.
If these new factories are built, they will add to the company's already growing production capacity.
Cybertruck. Image source: Tesla.
Increasing production capacity
Tesla has been investing aggressively in production capacity recently. Of the company's $1.33 billion in capital expenditures in 2019, most of the amount went toward Gigafactory Shanghai construction, Model 3 production, and preparations for Model Y production.
Tesla finished 2019 with annual production capacity at its factory in Fremont, California, for 90,000 combined Model S and X units and 400,000 combined Model 3 and Y units. In addition, the company's newest factory in Shanghai, China, can produce 150,000 Model 3 vehicles annually.
Aggressive investment in production capacity is continuing in 2020. With Tesla planning to begin deliveries of its Model Y vehicle this month, the automaker has been adding capacity for more vehicle production at its factory. Tesla said in its fourth-quarter update that it was adding the required machinery to its factory in Fremont to get total annual Model 3 and Model Y production at the factory to 500,000 units by mid-year.
More growth ahead
It's unclear what annual production capacity Tesla would aim to achieve in a factory for its fully electric Cybertruck or at an additional factory for the Model Y -- the electric-car maker's lower-cost and smaller SUV. But Musk is notably bullish on both vehicles' potential. In Tesla's fourth-quarter earnings call in February, the CEO said he thinks Tesla will sell as many Cybertrucks as it can make. "I have never seen actually such a level of demand as this -- we've never seen anything like it basically," Musk said. In addition, Musk has said he believes annual Model Y deliveries could eventually exceed a million units.
For the full year of 2020, Tesla expects total deliveries to easily exceed 500,000 units, up from about 368,000 in 2019. Growth is expected to come from a combination of a further increase in Model 3 deliveries and the launch of Tesla's Model Y.
Tesla doesn't plan to start producing its Cybertruck until late 2021.
