Production/Delivery Status

graham said:

So is the Sac Bee just sourcing and paraphrasing the same newsletter, or did someone confirm that Tesla actually delivered 150 in 2008?

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It was actually 147 delivered according to what I got from Tesla today. They had more than 150 finished, but the logistics of getting them delivered are different for many customers.

For example, a very early Roadster from the Founders Series is still in the showroom. The guy sold his house and doesn't have a place to keep it in New York because he now has an apartment. There are also a few Roadsters that are getting custom leather or paint. They would be done except for the extra requests.

They delivered 70 cars in December.
They are aiming for 20 cars per week in February.

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Wow... so roughly half the cars ever produced were delivered in December.

They look nice when they are done for customers. Much better than that VP Grey Roadster that they had in Seattle.

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What was wrong with the Seattle Roadster? What is better about the customer cars?

graham said:

Have they officially announced that option along with a dollar amount? The last I heard of it was just a "we are thinking about doing this..." with a vague price range. Have they given you the option of air freight?

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They are still flying them now and they are almost at 200 in the Hethel Factory.

The issue is when to cutover completely to boat shipments. If they go cold turkey on air freight, then there will be a huge gap for a few weeks with nothing to do for the assembly workers in California.

graham said:

What was wrong with the Seattle Roadster? What is better about the customer cars?

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The VP Grey Roadster in Seattle was not finished for customers. It had wires hanging out of it, it was microfiber and had clearly seen a lot of abuse. 20,000+ miles on the car.

This was a car that the technicians experiment on. We were told it had been rebuilt several times. It was 1.5 drivetrain, but it still had the interior of 1.0 showing 2 gears.

The marketing car I just saw (Electric Blue with Dark/Light Grey interior) was PERFECT. Just like a customer car.

They also just got a Fusion Red marketing car. It doesn't have the battery in it yet, but the glider just arrived. It was only the third Fusion Red Roadster ever produced.

I heard some numbers on color selections for the first 600 Roadsters.

Radiant Red is 18%
Thunder Grey is 13%
Electric Blue is 11% (or also 13%... I forget)

James said:

it was microfiber and had clearly seen a lot of abuse. 20,000+ miles on the car.

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Good to know! I was considering the microfiber for a while, but was concerned that it would not age very well...

I heard some numbers on color selections for the first 600 Roadsters.

Radiant Red is 18%
Thunder Grey is 13%
Electric Blue is 11% (or also 13%... I forget)

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Oh right! Since we all had to lock in our colors months ago, they would know that information!

George Clooney lives in San Francisco?

vfx said:

George Clooney lives in San Francisco?

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Are they set up to do DT1.5 retrofits in LA?
Perhaps they have to truck those early cars back up north to do the switcheroo?
For that matter it could have come back to "home base" from almost anywhere.

graham said:

Have they officially announced that option along with a dollar amount?

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I was given a "preliminary estimate" of "around $3,900."

tomsax said:

I was given a "preliminary estimate" of "around $3,900."

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Tom, if I recall your number is in the low 200s. Based on what I heard today, I think your glider might be flown over without an extra charge. I got the impression that they are not yet ready to start using the boat shipment for any significant volume of gliders. They are still testing that system and how it will affect things.

With the recession and drop in cargo volume globally, the cost of air freight is likely falling also.

Two other things that I learned today.

There is a "sport" model of the Roadster coming this summer.
0-60 mph in 3.6 seconds. They were not sure on the cost yet.


[Moderation Note: Sport Model discussion continues here.]



The door sill is a plastic material. It will soon be available in the clear carbon fiber material. The Glacier Blue VP test driving vehicle has it installed. The driver side is the standard door sill, the passenger side has the carbon fiber door sill. This enables the test driver to see both versions at the same time.

It looks REALLY good in carbon fiber. This also has the advantage of being scuff resistant. The normal plastic material can show scuff marks over time from your shoes dragging on the door sill as you get in and out. The carbon fiber material is much more resistant and durable.

This is an upgrade that you can get later if your plastic door sills start showing some wear. The panel covering the door sill pops on and off.

James said:

The door sill is a plastic material. It will soon be available in the clear carbon fiber material. The Glacier Blue VP test driving vehicle has it installed. The driver side is the standard door sill, the passenger side has the carbon fiber door sill. This enables the test driver to see both versions at the same time.

It looks REALLY good in carbon fiber.

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I think so too. When I talked with them about it a couple of months ago, they were not planning on having it available as an option for the 2008 model year. (I assume partly because we have already locked in our interior choices).

This is an upgrade that you can get later if your plastic door sills start showing some wear. The panel covering the door sill pops on and off.

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This is very good news. I like the look of the CF and may wish to spring for this even though it is not an initial option for me.

Production update from twitter:

TeslaNews The 227th Roadster (VIN 200) has entered production as owners await further details on the Sport model upgrade option. about 9 hours ago from web

James said:

The highest VIN number I saw was #143 and it was finished and waiting for pickup by the owner.

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I stopped by the store for just a few minutes last Thursday. I highest VIN I happened to notice on the showroom floor was #148; #143 was still there as well. Of course some higher VINs could have already been delivered.





Did notice a few more hardtops.

Remember to add 27 (Founders) to the VIN number that you see.
That is the number delivered, minus the exceptions.

Dude, Where's my car?

I am sad to be one of those 'exceptions'. I'm located in Texas, so I can't easily check the showroom. Has anyone seen VIN #85 in Menlo Park?

That Radiant Red with the colored hardtop looks really nice. Hmm.

Barry M said:

I am sad to be one of those 'exceptions'. I'm located in Texas, so I can't easily check the showroom. Has anyone seen VIN #85 in Menlo Park?

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Were you having some custom paint or something done? You should really just give them a call.




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A small update about how the Roadsters are shipped from the UK:
Apparently Tesla is planning to continue flying gliders over the pond at least through the 2009 model year. It seems there is a shipper flying goods from the US to the UK and was previously having the planes return to the US empty. This shipper gave Tesla a very good deal to load the planes with Roadsters instead. It appears Tesla will stick with this arrangement for the time being in lieu of shipping the gliders by boat.

I asked about this. It is United flying the cars and stangely the cost flying is equal to shipping at the current volume level. It may change as they get to a production level later this year and shipping more cars gets them a price significantly below current rates quoted.

Dropped by the Menlo Park store today and my car #187 is in "pre-production", which means it was just uncrated.
It still has all the protective paper on it.
Meredith (such a great person) and I found it in the drive train shop next door. Delivery in about 2 weeks.