He made the statement about the future of solar roofing during a March 14 event to reveal Tesla’s new Model Y.

The one-hour event was livestreamed and can be viewed on YouTube below.

In short, Musk said Tesla’s solar efforts were hampered by problems related to its Model 3 car and that those issues are now in the company’s past.

“Because of like the extreme challenges with Model 3 production we had to basically allocate all resources to Model 3 production because otherwise we’re going to die,” Musk said to a bit of laughter.

Musk said 2018 was a particularly rough year for the company and “probably felt like aging five years in one.”

He went on to thank attendees of the event “for supporting Tesla through this difficult period.”

“Now that Model 3 production is going pretty well we can finally allocate ensuring attention to the solar roof as well as the solar retrofit,” Musk said.

That isn’t to say absolutely nothing has been happening with Tesla’s solar roof-related endeavors.

As Roofing Contractor recently reported, the company has been cleared to offer solar roof leases in Florida.

And in November, the company filed a patent for colored variants of solar shingles.