HMM: SEC Probes Tesla Over Model 3 Production Disclosures. “The investigation began before Elon Musk’s tweets about taking the auto maker private.”

Securities regulators last year subpoenaed a parts supplier for Tesla as they looked at whether the auto maker misled investors about Model 3 car production problems, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Both issues are being handled by the SEC’s San Francisco office, one of the people said.

The Wall Street Journal reported in October that the Tesla assembly plant’s body shop wasn’t fully installed until around September and that major portions of the Model 3 were being hand built weeks after Mr. Musk announced production had begun in July 2017. As production started, he claimed about 1,600 cars would be made in the third quarter of 2017 before reaching 20,000 in December. Those forecasts were far below what he predicted roughly a year earlier, when he said as many 200,000 Model 3s would be made in the second half of 2017.

Instead, Tesla made 2,700 Model 3s during 2017. The sedan, priced to start at $35,000, is designed to propel the luxury electric-car maker into the mainstream.

Model 3 production has ramped up in recent months after long delays, but it’s still unclear by exactly how much, or if corners were cut to get the cars out the factory door without actually being ready for retail sale.