Martin's crashed Roadster?!?

raymond · 06-19-2008, 12:11 PM

From Tesla Update: Former CEO’s Crashed Car, IPO Plans & WhiteStar « Earth2Tech

Departed (and disgruntled) CEO Martin Eberhard was supposed to receive Roadster #2, and AutoblogGreen points out that he still hasn’t received it. Siry confirms with us that during a test drive a technician “made an honest mistake” and crashed the car. (On the day of a board meeting, no less!) Siry says no malice was intended for the former CEO. Tesla is repairing the car (not sending a new one) per Eberhard’s request, according to Siry.

(oops, this seems to have been covered elsewhere -- sorry!)

This is at the very least ironic...

vfx · 06-19-2008, 12:37 PM

Raymond it's good you posted this the rest of the article has more info on Tesla now.

doug · 06-20-2008, 05:54 PM

Thanks for the article, Raymond. The topic of Martin's car being in an accident before delivery is probably significant enough to deserve it's own thread and and a detour from the over arching saga of Martin trying to get his car.

The main issues are what actually happened to the car and how Tesla will work to remedy the situation to Martin's satisfaction as a customer. This is a real test for Tesla's customer service.

(It kinda reminds me of that incident a couple years ago where the owner of a relatively new S2000 took his car in for minor repairs only to have it wrecked by a technician that took it on an unauthorized "test drive". I'm sure there are many other examples.)

Important customer service questions include: "Will Martin's car be repaired to good as new?" and, "How will Tesla compensate him for possible diminished value?" Normally in this kind of situation, the best outcome is to be offered a new replacement car. In this case, however, that's clearly unsatisfactory since the production number was/is very important to Martin.

Relevant articles:
ABG broke the story -
So, where is Martin Eberhard's Tesla Roadster anyway? Here's the story so far - AutoblogGreen

TTAC sounding uncharacteristically sympathetic -
Tesla Death Watch 5: Oops! Eberhard's Car Crashed | The Truth About Cars

Valley Wag -
Tesla Motors: Tesla Motors crashes roadster earmarked for disgruntled former CEO

chimpanzee · 06-20-2008, 07:50 PM

Automotive: egos + money + cars = conflict

There was a parallel incident in Champcar '06 (San Jose GP), where a bonehead move resulted in a damaged car (A. Tagliani). There is a public spat, TV/media covers it. The 2 parties usually have a private meeting to find a "resolution"..& everybody MOVES ON. Sometimes, the offending party pays for the damage.

In this situation, it seems to be escalating to ridiculous proportions. Spiraling out of control. It looks like amateur-hour ("Life is like High School..with MONEY"/David Letterman). To many, it seems very black & white (good guy & bad guy).

"Once you lost Credibility, YOU CAN NEVER GET IT BACK"

a customer issue, has now become a Company issue (PR disaster). You really have to wonder about Command & Control over at TM.

Bottomline: TM needs to get Martin his car ASAP, & quit the theatrics

doug · 06-21-2008, 01:07 PM

The Browser - Inc.com

Quote:

Finally, a classic story of adding insult to injury: the car company Tesla is, according to Valleywag, going to delay delivery of a car to former CEO Martin Eberhard. Seems a test driver crashed it.

Earth2Tech Week In Review « Earth2Tech

Quote:

Tesla Update: Former CEO’s Crashed Car, IPO Plans & WhiteStar: Yeah, a Tesla technician actually crashed former CEO of Tesla, Martin Eberhard’s, Roadster while it was being test drove. Eberhard left the company on negative terms, so it would be easy to use Freud’s turn of phrase that there are no accidents. Tesla says it was an honest mistake and the car is being repaired.

doug · 06-23-2008, 09:43 PM

Hey Martin,

Any update on your car? Turn around time for repairs, etc?

Thanks!

Martin · 06-23-2008, 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by doug

Hey Martin,

Any update on your car? Turn around time for repairs, etc?

Thanks!

No definitive delivery date yet.

malcolm · 06-26-2008, 02:38 AM

It STILL bugs me that Tesla's Customer Service is so weak.

STILL NO delivery date???

Would Tesla dare to let this happen with a Hollywood celeb? I don't think so.

vfx · 06-27-2008, 08:32 AM

If you think about it Tesla would have quite a dilemma on their hands. A wrecked car.

What do they know about repairing bodywork? Carbon fiber bodywork. blending a custom factory two color paint job done in England?

Where are the parts for replacement? What are they called? What are the part numbers? Are they in a book yet? Where do they sit in the warehouse? Who gets them off the shelf and sends them?

Much of this probably was/is not worked out yet.

Worst of all I would imagine would be frame work. They would probably have to find a shop familiar with Lotus aluminum frames and how to repair them. Probably only two in California. Wait in line. And the Tesla frame is actually different than any Lotus so if there is any special jigs needed for stretching/wrenching the body back to straight, they may not even been designed yet. They may even have to fly out someone from the UK to help with the methodology of repair and to set up a repair pipeline.

I'm not surprised that the work is not done and that there is no delivery date yet given. They are on new ground here. On this I give them a break.

flabby · 06-27-2008, 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vfx

If you think about it Tesla would have quite a dilemma on their hands. A wrecked car.

What do they know about repairing bodywork? Carbon fiber bodywork. blending a custom factory two color paint job done in England?

Where are the parts for replacement? What are they called? What are the part numbers? Are they in a book yet? Where do they sit in the warehouse? Who gets them off the shelf and sends them?

Much of this probably was/is not worked out yet.

Worst of all I would imagine would be frame work. They would probably have to find a shop familiar with Lotus aluminum frames and how to repair them. Probably only two in California. Wait in line. And the Tesla frame is actually different than any Lotus so if there is any special jigs needed for stretching/wrenching the body back to straight, they may not even been designed yet. They may even have to fly out someone from the UK to help with the methodology of repair and to set up a repair pipeline.

I'm not surprised that the work is not done and that there is no delivery date yet given. They are on new ground here. On this I give them a break.

They have quite a few engineers who designed and built the first cars, why wouldn't they just do the repairs inhouse?