Tesla Tears Down Fremont Model S/X Line for Robot Production

The news is out: Tesla has begun dismantling the original Model S and Model X assembly line at its Fremont Factory, marking a significant shift in the company’s production strategy. The decommissioning process, which started just 46 days ago, will make way for the production of Optimus humanoid robots, with an ambitious goal of reaching 1 million units per year once fully ramped up.

The Model S entered production at Fremont in June 2012, followed by the Model X in 2015. Together they defined Tesla’s identity as a premium electric vehicle (EV) maker for over a decade. Production of both vehicles officially wound down around May 10, 2026, after Elon Musk announced the phase-out during Tesla’s Q4 2025 earnings call in January 2026.

The speed at which this changeover is happening is remarkable. Tesla says the decommissioning of the legacy assembly line took just 46 days – a pace that reflects how aggressively the company is prioritizing the transition to robot production. According to reporting from The Robot Report and Assembly Magazine, the full conversion of the space to Optimus production lines is expected to be completed in roughly four months from start to finish.

The Fremont site will host production of the third generation of Optimus, Tesla’s humanoid robot. Musk has publicly targeted 1 million units per year as annual capacity once the line is fully ramped up – a figure that would dwarf any humanoid robot program in existence. This target is ambitious for a product that hasn’t yet shipped commercially.

Tesla plans to begin external commercial sales of Optimus later in 2026, with a long-term price target of $20,000 to $30,000 per unit. Early-access units in 2026 are expected to be priced higher – reports suggest $50,000 to $80,000 – with broader volume availability slated for 2027. Initial output will be ‘extremely slow,’ according to Musk’s own words.

Each Gen 3 Optimus contains roughly 10,000 unique parts, and Tesla is standing up entirely new production processes for actuators, hands, and structural components that have no direct analogue in EV manufacturing. Limited production on the converted Fremont line is expected to begin in late July or August 2026.

The decommissioned space was specifically the legacy Model S/X general assembly line, which had been operating at a fraction of its potential volume for years as demand for the flagship sedans and SUVs tapered off relative to mass-market cars. For existing Model S and Model X owners, this doesn’t change service or parts support – Tesla has consistently maintained legacy vehicle service commitments even as it retires older product lines.

The Bigger Strategic Picture

Musk has told investors on multiple earnings calls that Optimus could eventually be worth more than Tesla’s entire automotive business. Whether or not that materializes, physically converting the birthplace of Tesla’s car business into a robot factory is the clearest signal yet that the company is acting on that thesis, not just talking about it.

The internal deployment of Gen 3 Optimus units at Fremont gives Tesla a rare feedback loop: the robots being built will help build the next generation of themselves. Over 1,000 Gen 3 Optimus units were already operational on Tesla’s own production floor as of early 2026, handling tasks like battery module assembly and EV pack loading.

The next question is how quickly Tesla can fill the empty floor space at Fremont with robot production. The company has publicly acknowledged that ramping up a brand-new product to seven-figure annual volumes will take years, not months – but the momentum is building.