Tesla is making a massive pivot at its historic Fremont factory, officially closing the chapter on its longest-running flagship vehicles to make way for the future of robotics. The physical shift from building large luxury electric cars to humanoid robots is officially underway, and the transformation is happening at a blistering pace.
The official Tesla Manufacturing account (@gigafactories) on X shared a neat time-lapse video documenting the transition, writing, “End of an era: Decommissioning the original Model S & X assembly line in just 46 days.” The video shows construction teams ripping out massive robotic arms, clearing out structural foundations, and completely repouring a clean concrete factory floor. Tesla's AI chief, Ashok Elluswamy, chimed in on the milestone, adding, “Big shoes to fill, but I’m confident Optimus will not disappoint!!”
End of an era: Decommissioning the original Model S & X assembly line in just 46 days pic.twitter.com/kGEdfhl62h
— Tesla Manufacturing (@gigafactories) July 10, 2026
Out With the Flagships, In With the Robots
The decision to completely dismantle these lines didn’t happen overnight. Tesla announced during its Q4 2025 earnings call earlier this year that it was ending Model S/X production to make space for initial Optimus production at its Fremont factory. Tesla officially closed Model S/X orders at the end of the first quarter. To give the vehicles that started it all for Tesla a proper send-off, the Model S and Model X got a final encore with a limited-run Signature Edition that was sold exclusively via invite-only access.
Despite Tesla saying that, thanks to its complexity, Optimus will be manufactured more like a modern car than a smartphone, it can’t really use the same assembly lines as the Model S and Model X. Now that the old automotive machinery is gone, the space is being prepared to house a massive robotics operation. Fremont is expected to churn out 1 million Optimus robot units per year once the factory floor fully ramps up. Even larger volume production of up to 10 million units per year is already being planned for Gigafactory Texas down the road. With the factory floor cleared out, Tesla is expected to unveil its production-ready Optimus Gen 3 prototype sometime soon.
Inside the Modular Optimus Line
Setting up a manufacturing line for a humanoid robot looks completely different from assembling a car. In a recent interview, Vice President of Engineering Lars Moravy shared that Tesla's first official Optimus production line has successfully landed at the Fremont factory. Crews have already started installing the hardware, which likely began right where the time-lapse demolition ends.
Instead of a long, static conveyor system, this new line utilizes a completely modular design. This layout allows engineers to easily adapt the workspace as the robot design and its assembly processes evolve over time. The plan is to eventually scale up to dozens of individual sub-lines. Right now, the actual manufacturing equipment is being built and validated over in Germany, which involves roughly 40 distinct sub-lines before being shipped over. As the factory floor shifts from building luxury EVs to humanoid helpers, Tesla is proving just how fast it can adapt its manufacturing muscle.
