Tesla Begins Early Optimus Production in Fremont, Eyes Outside Deliveries for Late 2027
On Tesla's Q3 call, Elon Musk said the company has started 'early production on a high-volume line in Fremont' for Optimus. Deliveries to companies outside Tesla are expected around the end of 2027, with industrial buyers first and homes later.
In April, Tesla said Optimus production wouldn't start until late July or August, and declined to forecast output. The Q3 call confirms a start, in Musk's words "what I'd call early production", and puts the date that matters for anyone outside Tesla around the end of 2027. Musk said most of the equipment for a line designed for a million units is in Fremont and that design changes are still under way. He expects the ramp to take at least a year, maybe longer.
For companion buyers, the sequence is the story. Musk said the first customers would most likely be industrial users with dangerous, repetitive, around-the-clock work, and that home sales would come later as production scales. Optimus still has no face and no companion pitch, and on Tesla's own sequencing, homes come after an industrial rollout that hasn't started yet.