Tesla Reportedly Struggling to Meet 5,000 Optimus Bot Production Goal This Year

According to reports from The Information, Tesla is having difficulty achieving its ambitious goal of producing at least 5,000 Optimus humanoid robots this year. With almost eight months remaining in 2025, insiders reveal that production has only hit the hundreds. This puts Tesla at a pivotal moment: they need to speed up manufacturing or revise their timeline.

This development comes on the heels of Tesla’s report of a 12% decline in total revenue for the second quarter, largely due to falling EV sales, decreased earnings from regulatory credits, and a dip in solar and energy storage revenues. During the Q2 earnings call earlier this week, Musk indicated that the production of the new Optimus 3 design is expected to begin early next year.

“Our aim is to quickly ramp up Optimus production, with a target of up to a million units per year in the shortest timeframe possible,” Musk stated. “We believe this is feasible within five years. It’s a realistic objective.”

It’s worth noting that Musk has made similar ambitious claims in the past. At Tesla’s 2019 Autonomy Day, he forecasted the rollout of a million robotaxis by 2020. Two years later, he mentioned that mass production of robotaxis would kick off by 2024. As of now, neither of these predictions has come to fruition.