When in production does the car go to the paint shop?

Using this behind the scenes factory video on how the Model S is made, which conveniently happens to be 5 minutes long, and using each minute as roughly 1 day of production, the car enters the paint shop in minute 2:00 which would correspond to day 3 of production.

Body goes to paint right from the main assembly line, the part with the cool red robots, which is basically first. I say "first" because all the stamping of body & chassis parts has already been done & they are off the shelf common to all cars. A lot of the assembly after that is done by hand. Point is, paint is early. My guess of a five day build, it's end of day one.

Based on the several videos I've seen, include the recent "How It's Made" version, I believe the below to be fairly close.

Add time for any corrections required, which should be minimal at this point of Tesla's production experience.


Dual motors may add time as Telsa works out the kinks with that production learning curve.

Paint is one of the first steps for a customer's car after the main assembly. The body, body panels, hood, trunk, etc. are already formed and waiting for assembly. Before paint, it's anybody's car

Chris TX said:

Paint is one of the first steps for a customer's car after the main assembly. The body, body panels, hood, trunk, etc. are already formed and waiting for assembly. Before paint, it's anybody's car

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Not sure that was ever true (I think they were VIN tagged from the start), but it definitely isn't true now as the D's have different front intrusion beams, so there two different bodies now.

Of course, it could be done in batches with them being alternatively anybody's D or non-D, it then you run the risk of having too many of one or the other.

EarlyAdopter said:

Not sure that was ever true (I think they were VIN tagged from the start), but it definitely isn't true now as the D's have different front intrusion beams, so there two different bodies now.

Of course, it could be done in batches with them being alternatively anybody's D or non-D, it then you run the risk of having too many of one or the other.

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They are required by law to mark a lot of the pieces of the body with the VIN. That can be done by stamping or with a counterfeit resistant self destructing label. So it's possible the bodies are generic up until they are painted. I've never noticed the VIN markings on the body panels of a Model S so I can't say for sure if they're stamping or labeling.

Agree with EA. Consider that some configurations might have a paint color roof and Tesla would need to paint it at the same time as the rest of the car. Therefore, each body is unique prior to paint and thus when Tesla production begins for each customer.