{"id":125207,"date":"2018-04-12T16:00:30","date_gmt":"2018-04-12T20:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=125207"},"modified":"2018-04-12T16:21:57","modified_gmt":"2018-04-12T20:21:57","slug":"waiting-to-take-delivery-of-a-tesla-model-3-you-may-be-caught-in-a-time-shift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2018\/04\/waiting-to-take-delivery-of-a-tesla-model-3-you-may-be-caught-in-a-time-shift\/","title":{"rendered":"Waiting to Take Delivery of a Tesla Model 3? You May be Caught in a \u201cTime Shift\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Tesla CEO Elon Musk at the Fremont plant.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last we checked, there were more than 400,000 folks waiting to take delivery of the Tesla Model 3, a potential problem considering the slow ramp-up of production. But even though some potential buyers might now have to wait until 2019 \u2013 perhaps beyond \u2013 they shouldn\u2019t consider that a delay but simply a \u201ctime shift,\u201d according to CEO Elon Musk.<\/p>\n

The South African-born entrepreneur famously predicted his company\u2019s Fremont, California assembly plant would go through \u201cproduction hell\u201d when it launched its first mainstream model last July. And, indeed, it had to largely hand-build them for the rest of the year. Tesla recently released numbers that showed first-quarter production reached 2,000 a week, but even that was 20% below the company\u2019s target. And that\u2019s leading some frustrated shoppers to cancel their advance reservations.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
News You Can Trust!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll definitely get your car,\u201d Musk declared during an interview on CBS on Thursday, suggesting customers shouldn\u2019t think of what\u2019s happening as a delay, but \u201ca six- to nine-month time shift. That\u2019s literally it, and three of those months have already passed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whatever you call it, Tesla customers should be getting used to not having products ready on time. The company hasn\u2019t managed to meet its targets once, starting with the roll-out of the original Roadster. The Model X was a full two years behind schedule.<\/p>\n

(Family of man who died after his Model X crashed and caught fire hires law firm. <\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span>\u00a0for the story.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Tesla CEO Musk is attempting to calm the nerves of Model 3 buyers who are waiting longer than expected for their new car.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Technically, Tesla actually did hit its production date last July, but it also took a lot of shortcuts to get there, according to industry analysts. And, if anything, that ensured the factory would sink into production hell. The company didn\u2019t properly validate the Model 3 line\u2019s manufacturing equipment and processes, and there were numerous issues at the Nevada Gigafactory battery plant that slowed things down. Meanwhile, supplier validation issues have resulted in issues with parts and components requiring extensive rework after vehicles roll off the line.<\/p>\n

Musk confirmed to CBS that he has taken to sleeping on the factory floor, something he did a couple years ago during the delayed Model X launch. It\u2019s \u201cnot because I think that\u2019s a fun place to sleep. I don\u2019t believe people should be experiencing hardship while the CEO is off on vacation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether that has actually accomplished much isn\u2019t certain, but he did insist, during a recent conference call with media and analysts, that Tesla expects to double its line rate in the coming months and come closer and closer to schedule.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an asterisk to that, however. The latest target is 5,000 vehicles a week by around the end of the second quarter, but that\u2019s still way short of the nearly 10,000 Tesla should be producing based on a much earlier Musk promise to have Fremont roll out 500,000 vehicles this year, 80% of them Model 3 battery-sedans.<\/p>\n

(<\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span>\u00a0for details about Tesla being hit with NLRB complaints over firings.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Musk was nothing upbeat during his TV interview, however, asserting that, \u201cAs long as you can see that you\u2019re ascending the levels of hell, that\u2019s okay. Then, at least that gives you hope. And I think we\u2019re rapidly \u2013 Tesla\u2019s rapidly on its way out of production hell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps, but Musk again acknowledged a concern raised during the earlier production conference call: at least some reservation holders have been canceling out. Several Chevrolet dealers in California, for example, have reported that some frustrated Tesla fans have instead opted to buy a Chevy Bolt EV.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s mostly, like, people cancel because, you know, they just needed a car and we didn\u2019t have a car for them,\u201d Musk explained on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Tesla might dismiss that issue and note that it is still expecting to take new orders. But those reservations each carry a $1,000 downpayment \u2013 Tesla reporting that putting more than $850 million in its corporate bank account. Right now, it can use every penny. It reported a far worse-than-expected loss during the fourth quarter of 2017, and it\u2019s expected to go deep in the red again for the January-to-March period.<\/p>\n

(Tesla downplays production lag and investors appear to agree.\u00a0<\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span>\u00a0for the latest.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

During the conference call, Tesla executives tried to downplay concerns that this will force the company to go back to the equities market, declaring they won\u2019t need to raise more capital \u2013 \u201cthis year.\u201d But there remain serious questions about what might have to happen in 2019 if production continues to lag and the Model 3 \u201ctime shift\u201d grows even longer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tesla CEO Elon Musk asked the thousands of folks waiting to take delivery of their yet-to-be-built Model 3 to think of the latest delays as a “time shift” and be patient as the EV maker works through the kinks in its production system. Some Chevy dealers say they’re getting buyers who canceled their Model 3 orders coming in and buying a Bolt EV. For details, go to TheDetroitBureau.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8,5,12,9],"tags":[],"make":[110],"post-state":[],"category_old":[150,151,319,282,155,299,132,125,139,291,207,278,288],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125207"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125207"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=125207"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=125207"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=125207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}