Tesla will convert the existing Model S and Model X production line at its Fremont plant and begin producing the humanoid robot Optimus as early as late July, or by August at the latest.

U.S. electric-vehicle outlet Electrek reported on April 23 that Elon Musk said this on Tesla's first-quarter 2026 earnings conference call.

Tesla is set to build the last Model S and Model X in Fremont in early May. The Model S will end 14 years of production and the Model X 11 years. Combined production of the two models topped 610,000 vehicles, but recent annual sales were about 30,000, well below the line's annual capacity of 100,000.

After finishing the final vehicles, Tesla will dismantle the existing line from scratch. It will begin by removing equipment for producing small parts and plans to dismantle final assembly equipment next month. It will then build new Optimus-dedicated production facilities, including wiring, communications and testing infrastructure.

Early production is expected to be slow. Musk said early Optimus output would be quite slow and that this year's production pace is effectively impossible to predict. He explained this was because Optimus consists of 10,000 unique parts and the company must mass-produce them for the first time on a completely new production line.

Tesla did not present a 2026 Optimus production target. Musk said Optimus would first perform simple tasks at factories before its functions expand. That marks a step back from Musk's forecast in January 2025 of producing about 10,000 units within the year. He acknowledged in January 2026 that there was not a single Optimus doing useful work at Tesla factories.

Tesla is also building a second Optimus plant at its Texas gigafactory. The plant will be built on an expanded northern campus site and is expected to start production around summer 2027. In the long term, it is planned as a fourth-generation model production base that will handle greater volumes.

The schedule to unveil the third-generation Optimus was also pushed back again. A first-quarter 2026 unveiling had been expected, but Musk put the timing around mid-year. Tesla said rivals analyze released videos frame by frame to replicate as many elements as possible.