(Reuters) - Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) Chief Executive Elon Musk on Friday pushed back the unveiling of the company’s big rig truck until mid-November, tweeting that the electric vehicle maker was diverting resources to fix production bottlenecks of its new Model 3 sedan and to help Puerto Rico. 
 
 FILE PHOTO: Tesla Model 3 cars wait for their new owners as they come off the Fremont factory's production line during an event at the company's facilities in Fremont, California, U.S., July 28, 2017. REUTERS/Alexandria Sage/File Photo 
 
 Musk said Tesla’s Model 3 was “deep in production hell” echoing his own comments in July, when he showed off some of the first cars of that model. 
 
 The Model 3 could help Tesla approach its goal of becoming more of a mass market producer. Recent comments have tempered expectations about the speed of the increase in production, though. 
 
 Musk’s comments came after the close of stock trading on Friday. The company’s shares fell 0.8 percent in extended trading. 
 
 The Palo Alto, California-based company delivered just 220 Model 3 sedans and produced 260 in the third quarter. It had planned to produce more than 1,500. 
 
 Musk also tweeted the company was diverting resources to increasing battery production to help hurricane-hit Puerto Rico, where most residents remain without electricity. 
 
 Earlier this week Tesla reported that “production bottlenecks” had left it behind the planned ramp-up for the Model 3. 
 
 In response to a Tesla customer asking if he would get his car delivered this year, Musk tweeted, “December will be a big month, so probably, but it is impossible to be certain right now.” 
 
 A Wall Street Journal report said parts of Model 3 were being made by hand as recently as early September, adding to production delays. (on.wsj.com/2kt5E17) 
 
 Musk also said Tesla would reschedule the unveiling of its semi-truck to Nov. 16 as it focuses on fixing production issues tied to Model 3 and increases battery production for Puerto Rico. 
 
 The unveiling of the truck, called Tesla Semi, has been delayed for the second time this year. Musk had initially said the truck would be unveiled in September, but he later rescheduled it to late October. 
 
 “Semi specs are better than anything I’ve seen reported so far. Semi eng/design team work is aces, but other needs are greater right now,” Elon replied to a twitter user who asked him about the specifications of the semi-truck. 
 
 Reuters in August reported that the truck would have a working range of 200-300 miles. 
 
 Earlier in the day, Musk said the company will send more battery installers to Puerto Rico to help restore power after Hurricane Maria knocked out power on the island over two weeks ago. 

 Back at the beginning of September, Elon Musk tweeted that the company would unveil its long rumored all-electric semi truck on October 26th. He noted that it was “tentatively” scheduled, leaving the door open for a date change if need be. Turns out that was a good call. 
 
 In a tweet this afternoon, Elon says the Semi unveil date is now set for November 16th — a shift of about three weeks. 
 
 The reasoning for the rescheduling? Musk mentions two things they’re focusing on right now instead: Model 3 bottlenecks and Puerto Rico battery production. 
 
 Tesla Semi unveil now Nov 16. Diverting resources to fix Model 3 bottlenecks & increase battery production for Puerto Rico & other affected areas. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 6, 2017 
 
 Yesterday morning Musk offered Tesla’s assistance in rebuilding Puerto Rico’s electric system after the devastation of Hurricane Maria left just 10 percent of the island with power; by the afternoon, the governor of Puerto Rico was tweeting back to say he wanted to talk about it. 
 
 As for the Model 3 bottlenecks mentioned: Tesla aimed to ship around 1,500 Model 3s in the third quarter of 2017, but disclosed on Monday that they’d ended up shipping around 260. While the company pinned the shortfall on production bottlenecks, they noted that they already “understand” the underlying issues and are “confident of addressing the manufacturing bottleneck issues in the near-term” — so, presumably, tackling those issues will be a key part of these next few weeks. 

 Entrepreneurial action junkie Elon Musk predicted it would be “manufacturing hell” to quickly ramp up Model 3 electric car production this year. Days after Tesla said it fell short of its initial goal for the car, he’s delaying the debut of another new product to focus on resolving assembly-line snags. 
 
 “Tesla Semi unveil now Nov 16,” Musk told his 13.3 million Twitter followers. “Diverting resources to fix Model 3 bottlenecks & increase battery production for Puerto Rico & other affected areas.” 
 
 Tesla had said it would make at least 1,500 of the new cars, nominally priced from $35,000, in the quarter that ended Sept. 30. The actual figure was just 260. It blamed the sluggish output on unspecified challenges, noting that “although the vast majority of manufacturing subsystems at both our California car plant and our Nevada Gigafactory are able to operate at a high rate, a handful have taken longer to activate than expected.” 
 
 Musk has touted a plan to create the most advanced automated vehicle manufacturing system in the industry, describing a “machine that makes the machine” approach that will give Tesla key competitive advantages. That may happen at some point, but based on one report, it may not be soon. 
 
 The Wall Street Journal reported late Friday that Tesla was hand-making “major portions” of the Model 3, citing people familiar with the matter who weren’t identified. Production of the cars is happening "in a special area" as the company works "feverishly" to complete installation of new machinery to enable high-volume assembly, according to the story. 
 
 Tesla called the report "fundamentally wrong and misleading." 
 
 "We are still in the beginning of our production ramp, but every Model 3 is being built on the Model 3 production line, which is fully installed, powered on, producing vehicles, and increasing in automation every day," Tesla said in an e-mailed statement. "However, every vehicle manufacturing line in the world has both manual and automated processes, including the Model S and Model X line today. Contrary to the Journal’s reporting, this is not some revelation." 
 
 Tesla has racked up about 500,000 advance orders for the Model 3, and requires would-be buyers to put down $1,000 to reserve one. Delivery dates for pre-ordered vehicles aren’t yet clear, and currently Tesla isn’t producing the base $35,000 version, but only a higher-grade variant that starts at $44,000. 
 
 The initial 30 units were delivered to customers in July, all of whom are Tesla employees. The Model 3 is a critical project to achieve Musk's long-held goal of evolving Tesla from a niche producer of luxury vehicles selling for about $100,000 on average to a true mass-market brand. He'd anticipated Tesla would reach a 500,000-unit production rate in 2018 for its vehicles and a million-unit annual rate by 2020, and bought German engineering firm Grohmann last year to help create the manufacturing system to do that. 
 
 Last year, in mapping out his ambitious vision, Musk talked about creating "alien dreadnought" factories. 
 
 "Model 3 efficiency as a whole, that really is a quantum change in productivity, like really, really, crazy," Musk said during the company's Oct. 26 earnings call. 
 
 "As we go to high volumes, what really matters is the factory, the machine that designs the machine – the machine that creates the machine – becomes actually of greater significance, much greater significance than the machine itself. That's where we have most of our engineering team working on. So sort of an internal codename for the factory machine that builds machine is the alien dreadnought so a point in which our factory looks like an alien dreadnought and we know it's probably right." 
 
 Alien dreadnoughts aside, early stumbles with Model 3 assembly complicate Musk's timetable. Tesla is also still completing construction of its $5 billion Gigafactory battery plant in Nevada that's key to driving down the cost of its energy storage devices. 
 
 In response to a question on Twitter about when Model 3 customers would be notified about delivery timing, Tesla’s CEO said, “You'll know as soon as we do. We are deep in production hell.” 
 
 Tesla had planned to show off its electric Semi at its Hawthorne, California, design studio on Oct. 26. That event is now pushed back to next month. Musk is also working to provide large-scale battery packs to Puerto Rico, to help the island regain power after its energy grid was devastated last month by hurricanes. 
 
 The company defended the Model 3 rollout, noting that it had said it would take time to "fine-tune the line for higher volumes." 
 
 "There are no fundamental issues with Model 3 production or its supply chain, and we are confident in addressing the manufacturing bottleneck issues in the near-term," Tesla said. "We are simply working through the S-curve of production that we drew out for the world to see at our launch event in July." 
 
 Musk told Twitter questioners he's doing his best to "recalibrate" timing for Model 3 customers, and that criticism about delays was justified. 
 
 "However, if I wasn't inherently optimistic, I wouldn't be doing electric cars and rockets in the first place." 

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– The debut of Tesla's big rig truck, the Tesla Semi, has been pushed back for at least the second time this year, Reuters reports. Elon Musk tweeted Friday that the public now won't get its first look at the truck until Nov. 16. According to TechCrunch, the Tesla Semi was supposed to debut Oct. 26 after an initial unveiling in September was pushed back. Musk says the company is diverting resources from the Tesla Semi to fix "production bottlenecks" for its Model 3 and increase battery production to help restore electricity in Puerto Rico. "Other needs are greater right now," Musk told a Twitter user asking about the truck. Musk describes the Model 3 as "deep in production hell"—echoing a warning of "manufacturing hell" he made back in July. Tesla had aimed to produce 1,500 Model 3s by Sept. 30; it made 260, Forbes reports. Musk blames unspecified "manufacturing subsystems" that "have taken longer to activate than expected" for the massive shortfall.