This doesn’t sound like that new of an idea. I’ve read about the big 3 having various sub components assembled and brought into the final assembly factory decades ago.

On a smaller scale, I worked in a factory 20 years ago making some automotive components. Even for that part, there were parts they were made on the side, that were assembled, and those assembled parts were used as inputs to the main production line.

I can’t read the whole article (the archive link wasn’t working), so I’m not sure if I’m missing something, but this seems pretty normal, unless Tesla is taking it to a new extreme in some way.