After reports of the 9,000-ton Giga Press being delivered in several packages to Giga Texas from Italy's IDRA Group, the world's most talked about casting machine is back in the news.
This time, the Italian manufacturer announced that another 9,000-ton casting machine has been produced at its plant in Italy. In a January 9 post on LinkedIn accompanied by a short video that shows the massive machine undergoing final testing, IDRA Group wrote that the new Giga Press is destined for Asia. The caption read, "Another 9000t ready for shipping on its way to Asia!"
The post did not include any hints as to who the recipient of the new 9,000-ton Giga Press might be, but unless IDRA Group has a secret contract with another automaker, Tesla looks like the safest bet.
Given that Tesla is the only automaker that has announced plans to use the world's largest casting machine to produce a vehicle – the Cybertruck – the most obvious destination for the new Giga Press would be Tesla's Giga Shanghai plant in China.
Mind you, Tesla hasn't announced plans to build the Cybertruck in China, so what would the automaker use the 9,000-ton casting machine for? We can only speculate from this point onward, but Tesla's refreshed Model 3 codenamed Project Highland and $25,000 entry-level EV look like the main "suspects."
With the Tesla China team reportedly leading its design and eventual production, the baby Tesla may be the reason why the 9,000-ton Giga Press is heading to Asia. According to the most recent update from Tesla, the $25,000 EV will be based on the company's third-generation platform that will be a game changer in the automotive industry.
CEO Elon Musk and other execs revealed on the Q3 2022 earnings call that the new architecture would be smaller in size and half the cost of the existing Model 3/Y platform. Tesla execs also said they expect the new platform to exceed Model 3 and Model Y production combined. Using a mega casting machine is certainly one way to cut production costs.
The refreshed Model 3 may also use large casting technology, especially since Elon Musk said Tesla would eventually bring the same technology used on the Model Y to the Model 3. There's also the remote possibility that Tesla plans to build the international version of the Cybertruck in Shanghai, although that is a bit of a stretch right now.
