Tesla partner denies report about major US facility: 'When we commit to something, we're fully committed'

2025 has been a volatile year for the once-unstoppable electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, and months of sales turbulence reportedly disrupted the brand's business with a key manufacturing partner, per Electrek, though that partner, Panasonic, has already issued denials.

Tesla's sustained sales slump has been nothing short of cataclysmic, particularly because the brand had such a lengthy and unchallenged stint at the top.

In April, CNN characterized Tesla's freefall as "stunning," considering the automaker previously boasted "year-over-year sales growth of between 20% and 100% virtually every quarter."

Plummeting Tesla sales in Q1 and Q2 largely manifested in the form of disappointing sales figures on paper — but on July 11, Nikkei reported a purported concrete consequence involving a major vendor.

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Electronics manufacturer Panasonic is a critical part of Tesla's supply chain, and the two brands have worked in concert as the latter's sales rose year over year. Back in 2022, Panasonic planned on expanding production with a manufacturing plant in Kansas.

Although that investment was years in the making, two quarters of unstable sales were alleged to have cast the facility's future in doubt.

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Nikkei's report that plans to maximize production capacity at the Kansas facility by March 2027 had been put on hold due to uncertainty about demand quickly made global headlines — but on Monday, July 14, Bloomberg UK obtained more definitive information.

Megan Myungwon Lee is Panasonic's head of operations in North America, and she addressed rumors about the Kansas plant in a BloombergTV interview. She asserted Panasonic would "be [at] full production this year," pressing forward on EV batteries instead of scaling back.

"When we commit to something, we're fully committed and we want to make sure we support all the customers," Lee continued. "We're not feeling the slowdown yet and we're very bullish."

Lee talked about diversification and promising partnerships with other electric vehicle makers, and was optimistic about the future of EV sales across the board.

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However, Lee's comments about Tesla's competitors didn't seem to hint at trouble between the partners, as she described the brands' relationship as "very strong."

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