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Build Quality: Improving, or Declining

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There have been many recent post regarding defects, misalignment, missing connectors and especially paint issues ...... that it is difficult to understand the current build quality. Is it improving? or declining?

It had appeared several months ago that most of the assembly fit and finish issues had been solved.
But most recently, there have been several discouraging post by recipients of the higher VIN's revealing, along with pictures, serious assembly and finish defects.

I know we all want to be truthful in our assessment ... but we need some positive experiences along with the negative.
 
Based on my limited sample size of 4 cars, paint quality has stayed the same between June-September. It seems that whether you get one of the better or worse ones is a luck of the draw. I have inspected 1 car built in each month during this period (Jun Jul, Aug, Sep) for myself and a friend and have not seen a noticeable improvement in paint quality. Rejected the Jun (Blue RWD), Jul (Blue RWD) and Sep (Red AWD) cars over paint defects and accepted the Aug (Blue RWD) car. Though the August build was the best of the four I personally inspected, it is probably more due to chance than anything else.
 
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Anecdotally, the answer appears to be "both". If I had to guess, I would say they have improved various items on the assembly line. As an example, perhaps the procedures around hood alignment were improved to reduce the "sunken hood" issues we heard reported early on. On the flipside, the rush to deliver ever greater numbers of cars might also be hurting them. Perhaps less time is being spent on each car or less time at various stations. Paint, as noted, seems to be a perpetual issue.

Indeed, the quality reports remind me of the aftermarket muscle car body parts reports I read. As an example, someone will post "Is the aftermarket fender from xxx supplier any good for a 69 Camaro?". The answers vary wildly from one person to the next suggesting (as with Tesla) the quality control and consistency just isn't there....and volume always tends to expose and magnify any process flaws.
 
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