Yah, I found that part very interesting as well.
The downer in that discussion was that the other half of the question "tell us more about the overall non-battery warranty" was never addressed.
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2012/07/25 Q2 2012 Q&A Conf Call notes
- Thread starter brianman
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- Tesla Inc.
The downer in that discussion was that the other half of the question "tell us more about the overall non-battery warranty" was never addressed.
There were a lot of great things about today's call (I'm particularly excited about the Sept supercharger announcement) but I was surprised to hear that having 3-4 months of backlog is a company goal. All of us early adopters are anxious enough to tolerate a wait of months and even years, but I'm concerned how many sales Tesla will lose if they force every buyer in the coming years to wait three to four months to get their vehicle. Our society is addicted to instant gratification. (Just look at Amazon attempting to move to same day delivery because that pesky one to two day wait for their products to be delivered is the only thing standing between them and total world domination.) I fear that once Tesla turns their marketing to consumers who are less committed than us early adopters, the comparison between a MB/BMW/Audi today and a Tesla in 4 months may not be favorable to Tesla. I get the build-to-order thing and the elimination of inventory carrying costs is wise, but 3-4 months as a steady state goal? I think they should be aiming for more like 2 weeks. That would be impressive - stroll into a Tesla store in your local high-end mall, configure your car, put down a deposit and the factory builds your car and delivers it to your home in two weeks. If that wait is 3-4 months, you lose a lot of customers IMO.
gg_got_a_tesla
Model S: VIN 65513, Model 3: VIN 1913
Also, what is this (in the shareholder letter) about the massive service center in Fremont? Unveiled in June? Is it on the factory premises or something?
Not that I'm complaining; glad to have ready access to a service center that close to home...
Not that I'm complaining; glad to have ready access to a service center that close to home...
Beavis
Model S Signature 991
A friend of mine ordered a Porche last month. Delivery is scheduled for October. 4 months backlog. Now, I admit that they ordered a high end model, but there is something to be said for exclusivicity.
Todd Burch
14-Year Member
Thanks Brianman!
As I recall, this part:
Should be 'Banana Leaf interior trim sample looked good, but didn't look good once it was in the car.
The car still looks great
Interesting since the reason we heard the banana leaf was scrapped was due to durability testing issues, which we heard directly from Tesla employees.
I was more interested in the "parts distribution" part. If that doesn't just mean sending parts to other dealers, perhaps Tesla will be allowing us to purchase parts direct? Would help in doing aftermarket tweaks (especially if we can get Euro-spec parts)
Todd Burch
14-Year Member
IMHO, that and the confirmation that Tesla would be offering battery upgrades in the future (suspected but now confirmed) were the most important announcements for us customers.
Well, that and the supercharger announcement. But there really wasn't any info in there so I don't count it
My productivity was at 0. Now I'm working in the 'field' (not the green one:wink
and must wait for my daily program Thanks. Bman for the cliff notes
Time to sell some crap and Tsla up
Anyone heard of the slow food movement?
I'd hate for Tesla to not be similar. Get rid of all of the instant gratification junk and this place is MUCH better!!!
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Well, could've said it looked terrible after some wear and tear or maybe because it would break easily upon mounting in the car. Saying it the way he did just puts a good face on it, I think.
I just accept that Banana Leaf is gone though. I'm not one to worry why.
Norbert
TSLA will win
Thanks Brian, it's good to get a real 'feel' for their thoughts rather than the more sterile statement.
AustinPowers
Total Smeghead
Lose customers because of 3 or 4 months wait time? Most of us here would be happy if wait times were that short. Our last car had 8 months, similarly with my first car and several others in our family. Remember that here it is not at all common to buy new cars off the lot (only used ones). Cars here are mostly built to order.
Only my current car was a pleasant surprise: hardly four weeks! But that was not the norm. When I asked about the extremely short wait time, BMW said I was lucky because some other customer had changed his mind, and his already half-made car (which had very similar specs to what I had ordered) was turned into what I had ordered by simply adding the last missing features.
And here You have it, one of the reasons why delivery is delayed, and ramp up slowed down so much.
I was at the store opening in Santa Monica, and saw the Model S for the first time in reality.
While the store, presentation quality, employees, ModelS/X exterior etc. were superb,
THE MODEL S INTERIOR BULIT QUALITY WAS A PAIN.
Banana leaf was one of the cheapest materials I ever witnessed inside a car.BMW tried something similar in their new 3 series, and they got a bloody nose too.
Has nothing to do with a feeling of an "open" tactile and exclusive material, like You had it in the stellar first generation Mercedes CLS,but with sheer synthetic toy plastic.
Sub par for Tesla´s brand impression.
• the rear sets felt like a bench from a transportation van, hard and univiting with a foamcore seating feel
• the headliner felt thin, and best of all was missing the all round rubber finish to the glass roof, so everyone could have a proper look at a 2mm thick pressed cardboard material impression.Worst case scenario
• fit and finish of the way the screen was embedded in the dash was clobbered together.Seams,hotglue, and best of all it wasn´t proper aligned
• Rear door rubber gaskets were misaligned at the bottom curve, where it begins to move upwards to the B pole.Again hotglue....
• everything considered drawer and moving parts-cupboard holder, glove compartment, movable air outlets (especially the ones next to the screen and the rear seat ones), were flimsy, undampened and felt incredibe cheap and thin.For example VW Jetta is lightyears ahead in that department.
• Floor material, logos, material impression,contrasting materials as whole (think womens acessories/bags) felt like in the 20K class of cars.Look at the Audi A4 to have a better comparison.
To sum it up-
it´s beginning to backflash now.
Tesla is too stingy in areas, where the customer feels the car.
Not single "real" wood in sight, nor real metals (except door closing retainer)-
Whoever´s responsible for this interior desaster should get fired, since the imperssion was that they are already focusing on the ModelX.
Much better materials there-why?
I think they potentially made a big mistake by showing those cars to the public, and allowing prospective owners to drive them, when they are clearly not final build quality. Come on guys. Keep Your promises, label the sub par cars clearly ( even with stickers on the questionable parts on the interior if nesessary )
You have a brand new car here with potential to shake up the automotive industry, put your best foot forward, even if it takes a few extra weeks!
I promise you, that if poor build quality stories like these keep coming up, especially after owners take delivery, Tesla will lose sales in a hurry.
You cannot get away with just a great driving experience when all those interior flaws and gaps are already solved in the rest of the industry.
Being better means being the leader especially in those areas.
Better than the German car manufacturers.
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thelastdeadmouse
Member
@tray loader,
The cars that have been in stores up to this point have all been pre-production display or testing models that haven't been finalized designs and were not built with production parts or tooling. They're in no way indicative of the final build quality.
The cars that have been in stores up to this point have all been pre-production display or testing models that haven't been finalized designs and were not built with production parts or tooling. They're in no way indicative of the final build quality.
What is 'productivity' ?
My productivity was at 0. Now I'm working in the 'field' (not the green one:wink
I am in the field too. But have a trailer and Clear internet! So still at 0 for me.
Glad to see it is common. Good think I am working on tiny punchlist items. They seem to be fitting in between my TMC responsibilities.
tdelta1000
Active Member
Uneasy thoughts in my head after reading it all. :frown:
I really hope postponing production ramp has its reason in underestimating the task of building a high quality interior, as conceded by Elon. Fully plausible for me, if a bunch of engineers and car nuts starts to build their first car from scratch. They see the "hard engineering" tasks as first priority. An "upgraded interior" in their understanding might be a race car roll cage, not maple wood inserts. :wink:
I really hope postponing production ramp has its reason in underestimating the task of building a high quality interior, as conceded by Elon. Fully plausible for me, if a bunch of engineers and car nuts starts to build their first car from scratch. They see the "hard engineering" tasks as first priority. An "upgraded interior" in their understanding might be a race car roll cage, not maple wood inserts. :wink:
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