In 2018, Tesla was teetering on the edge of disaster. The Model 3 production was far behind schedule, cash was burning faster than it was coming in, and every major analyst on Wall Street had the same prediction — bankruptcy was inevitable.

From Silicon Valley to Stuttgart, industry giants like Mercedes-Benz and BMW smirked at Tesla’s struggles. The idea that a young, unconventional electric car company could compete with the century-old titans of the auto industry seemed laughable. Headlines were brutal. Investors panicked. Employees worried about their future.

But Elon Musk wasn’t ready to give up.

Instead of retreating to a boardroom to discuss “strategic pivots” or preparing an exit plan, Musk made a radical decision — he moved into the Tesla Gigafactory in Fremont, California. Literally. For weeks, his bed was a sleeping bag on the factory floor. He skipped showers, worked 18–20 hours a day, and refused to leave until Tesla was back on track.

When a machine broke down, Musk didn’t call a repair service — he grabbed tools and fixed it himself. When suppliers hesitated to ship parts, he personally called them at 3 a.m., negotiating, pleading, and sometimes demanding, to keep the production lines moving. He ate with factory workers, listened to their frustrations, and made changes in real time.

“I wanted to suffer more than anyone else,” Musk later explained. “If people saw me sleeping in the factory, they’d know how serious I was about fixing this.”

The turning point came when Tesla hit its long-promised milestone: producing 5,000 Model 3 cars per week. That number didn’t just silence critics — it shocked the industry. The same experts who predicted Tesla’s collapse were now forced to reckon with its resurgence.

Within a few short years, Tesla’s stock price exploded, the company became profitable, and its market valuation soared past $1 trillion — making it more valuable than almost every traditional carmaker combined. Mercedes and BMW were no longer laughing. Instead, they were scrambling to catch up in the electric race Tesla had ignited.

The 2018 crisis became known inside Tesla as the “Production Hell” period — a brutal chapter that tested everyone’s limits but forged the culture that drives the company today. Musk’s willingness to endure the grind alongside his employees didn’t just save Tesla; it cemented his reputation as a leader who’s willing to bleed for his vision.

Now, as the EV revolution sweeps the globe, the story of Tesla’s near-collapse and meteoric rise serves as a powerful reminder: sometimes the difference between failure and history-making success is the grit to sleep on the floor and keep working when everyone else says it’s over.