Tesla Motors Nearly Doubles Staff in 2014

Tesla Motors is growing. However, they grew so fast in 2014 that they nearly doubled their workforce. In 2013, Tesla had 5,859 employees, but by the end of 2014 they had 10,161, and they are continuing to hire. After all, its believed by some that Tesla will reach a yearly production rate of 500,000 units by 2020.

That stat came from Joe Taylor, the CEO of Panasonic, at CES 2015. Panasonic is working alongside Tesla in their bid to lower the cost of lithium ion batteries at their Gigafactory, which is currently being build outside of Reno, Nevada. That Gigafactory is expected to bolster the size of the Tesla Motors workforce by 6,500 employees. The facility is quite large. It’s nearly as large as the biggest campus building at Boeing and it easily dwarfs the new Dallas Cowboys football stadium. Photos taken by a local photographer show that Gigafactory construction is clearly progressing.

It will need to progress in order to hit the 2017 Target build date for the Tesla Model III. It’s also worth nothing that with all the talk about the new Gigafactory and the Tesla Model III, many forget Tesla still has another model to release. The Tesla Model X crossover is scheduled to come out this year. The falcon-winged vehicle has 20,000 deposit-supported pre-orders already in place. On the Tesla website it indicates that pre-orders for a model X crossover, ordered today will be available in “early 2016.”

Tesla has also expanded their usage of their Fremont, California plant and acquired a 431,000 square foot facility in Lathrop, California. In an emailed statement to Mercury Business News about their expanded operations in the Golden State, Tesla said, “These recent investments reinforce our commitment to California and will help us continue to bring compelling electric vehicles to market at affordable prices.” While Tesla grows its workforce, how does its attempt at growth compare to other automakers?

BMW, the luxury automaker from Germany announced recently that they plan to hire 8,000 more employees globally in 2015. The Chief Human Resources Manager for BMW, Milagros Caina-Andree, said in a statement, “High demand means that we need more skilled workers in our German plants as well as our international production network.” This growth for BMW isn’t new. They already hired 7,000 new employees in 2014 and currently employ 110,000 total worldwide. In addition to BMW, Nissan has reportedly hired 9,000 employees during the past four years with their total number of employees being 166,881 as of May 2014. Nissan is looking to ramp up production as they attempt to catch Honda as the number two Japan-based automaker in the United States.