Palo Alto – Tesla CEO Elon Musk has admitted that the production problems of the new Model 3 electric car were exacerbated by excessive automation. In an interview by TV channel CBS Musk confirmed that robots had slowed down manufacturing in some cases. “We had this crazy, complex network of treadmills. And it didn’t work, so we got rid of it,” he said as an example. Later Musk added on Twitter: “Yes, the exaggerated Autom Attization at Tesla was a mistake. To be precise, my mistake. People are undervalued.” It is an unusual admission for Musk, who was always fascinated by the potential of automated production. He spoke of the “machine that builds machines”, and robots that move faster than the human eye can recognize. To implement the vision, Tesla bought among other things the German mechanical engineer Grohmann from Prüm in Rhineland-Palatinate. Musk said in the Int erview also that in Model 3 “too many new technologies were packed in at once”. “That should have been staggered.” The Model 3 is to bring electric mobility from the niche to a wider market with a price of 35,000 dollars before taxes and discounts. Tesla received more than 400,000 reservations for the vehicle, but since the official production start in summer 2017, it has been trying to finish it. This target was postponed to the end of June. At the end of March, Tesla produced a good 2,000 Model 3 weekly.Source: dpa