FREMONT, CA—According to a recent analysis by Bloomberg, Tesla Inc.’s flagship factory here is the most productive auto plant in North America. The automaker produced an average of 8,550 cars a week in 2021.
That’s more than other facilities such as Toyota Motor Corp.’s Georgetown, KY, factory (8,427 cars a week), BMW Spartanburg, SC (8,343) or Ford Motor Co.’s flagship Rouge plant in Dearborn, MI (5,564). To arrive at the numbers, Bloomberg analyzed production data from more than 70 assembly plants.
Tesla expanded its global production by 83 percent vs. 2020 levels, while much of the auto industry was stifled by severe supply chain shortages of microchips and other key components.
The Fremont factory was originally build by General Motors in the 1960s. In the 1980s and 1990s, the facility was known as NUMMI, a plant jointly operated by GM and Toyota. The factory, which formerly made Buick's, was revamped according to the Toyota Production System.
