Production bottlenecks finally easing.
American EV company Tesla has made a habit of appearing defiant and unconcerned in the face of issues that would normally humble even the largest automakers, having said in the past that there was nothing to be concerned over as it burned through record amounts of money keeping the lights on and suffered blow after blow as its entry-level Model 3 saloon kept missing delivery and production targets.
However, there’s finally some good news on that front, particularly if you’ve been waiting for-damned-ever for your Model 3. In Q1 2018, the company has managed to ramp up production of its compact saloon by some 40%, with final tally sitting at 2,000 units being pushed out of its factory every week. While that’s still short of the intended target of 2,500/week, it’s an impressive feat nonetheless.
And if you think Tesla doesn’t know humility in the face of failure, you will now be treated to Tesla in the light of glory:
“What took our team five years for the Model S & X [in terms of production increase] took only nine months for Model 3. This is the fastest growth of any automotive company in the modern era. If this rate of growth continues, it will exceed even that of Ford with the Model T.” — Tesla Inc.
And now that the “production bottlenecks” appear to have eased, and Tesla delivered from “production hell” as CEO Elon Musk once put it, the company is setting its usual ambitious targets for itself going forwards, with Model 3 production expected to increase “rapidly” and “exponentially” in the next quarter to hit a target of 5,000/week. Further, they also strained their arms patting themselves on the back with this:
“The quality of Model 3 coming out of production is at the highest level we have seen, across all our products. This is reflected in the overwhelming delight expressed by our customers with their Model 3s.” — Tesla Inc.
With wait times for the Model 3 still set at about a year from reservation to delivery, we’re kind of wondering why the reservation rates for Tesla’s compact saloon are still holding. Though, it’s worth noting that the reservation fee is fully refundable until your specific unit goes into production, and Tesla didn’t publicise the rate of cancellations…
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