Arnold Panz
Model Sig 304, VIN 542
---- Addendum to my previous message:
I may have I figured out what you were trying to say when you were talking about the difference between sig premiums and $40k deposits and so forth: That the pricing decision was made end of 2011, whereas the critical time for Tesla's survival was said to be mid-2012 and later, during the ramp up.
While it is of course true that *unexpected* events in mid-2012, and later, were unknown in 2011, their *possibility* was already known end of 2011.
The events in mid-2012, and later, *prove* that *concerns* about their possibility was justified already end of 2011.
Also, those events, as they came closer and then happened, may very well have affected the hiring of delivery specialists. Maybe this answers a misunderstanding.
You've got it -- when they implemented the Sig premium, they weren't planning on a cash crunch, supplier issues etc. From what I can gather, they figured, "People who can put down $40k must have money to burn and won't mind paying a few thousand dollar premium to get a Signature car and first delivery. We expect everything to go perfectly smoothly with the ramp up and delivery process from the get go, and people will be so happy to get their cars they'll forget about the premium in short order."
Obviously I have no idea what they were thinking, and much of this was probably implied/assumed, especially about the ramp up going smoothly. But, it was a bit naive and overly optimistic to assume everything was going to go well, and once things didn't go perfectly smoothly they had zero margin for error with these people who not only were buying a six figure car, but were charged an extra premium for the privilege of being guinea pigs for their new delivery process.
Having sat in numerous of these types of meetings at my company, I can imagine the CFO saying, "Why can't we charge these folks more who want it so bad?" and George B saying, "If we're going to do this, we'd better be able to deliver on time. Can we guarantee things will go smoothly next year during production?" And everyone around the table says "Absolutely!" because who's going to say that things won't go well, especially in their own area (Operations, Logistics etc.)?!
I don't mean to disparage anyone by calling them a "bean counter"; to me it's more of a mentality than identifying any individuals, and it's Finance's job to try to maximize revenue (or at least ask these questions). Being a bean counter means short term thinking about financial matters instead of looking at the bigger picture. I've called the pricing of the Sigs the "original sin" because it is the original bad decision that led to so much dissatisfaction with many Sig owners when things didn't go well the past few months.
I don't disagree that Tesla was on perilous financial footing for a long time, and with $40k unsecured with them, I was definitely rooting for their survival, and still desperately want them to survive and thrive. I got my car three weeks ago and it's met all of my (very high) expectations, and I have had nothing but great experiences with Tesla employees. But, when I read ongoing stories of other Sig owners waiting for their cars, not getting info, frustrations mounting, I refer back to this issue because I firmly believe that but for the Sig premium, all of these folks would have been much more patient with everything, and hindsight has shown that Tesla would have been much better off foregoing the Sig premium if it would have largely prevented these frustrating experiences that too many have had.