Buying one that was made in the tent

[Hawkman99]

I know there is inventory sitting in lots that were made in the rush during November and December. I hear many were made in a tent out in the parking lot. Would you buy one of these or wait until you can get your hands on a 2019 build?

My concern is quality.

Given many are going to Europe right now, I’m not sure when that will be.

 

[Evoforce]

It isn't really a tent. It kept the weather off a functioning assembly line. Don't listen to short seller propaganda.

 

[Hawkman99]

It isn't really a tent. It kept the weather off a functioning assembly line. Don't listen to short seller propaganda.

Thanks. I think the car is amazing and what Tesla has been able to accomplish just blows my mind. They’ve turned the industry upside down.

 

[Vitold]

What you hear is negatively biased because people with no issues do not post. In addition investors who are short Tesla stock ( bet the stock will go down ) have interest in highlighting negative stories.

You have a chance to inspect the car during delivery and 1 or 3 days to return it (depending on if you had a test drive or not).

 

[ewoodrick]

I believe that all of the 3 performance vehicles are made in the tent. The tent has a better optimized production line than the first one.

But the most important thing, I don't think that there is any way to know which was made where. And aside from that, it doesn't matter.

Stop worrying, order, receive, and drive the dang car. All of this will disappear from your mind the second you sit down in YOUR can and drive away.

 

[TeeEmCee]

All of this will disappear from your mind the second you sit down in YOUR can and drive away ...

... to the service center.


The quality of the old ones is pretty bad, so I looked into replacing mine with a new one. I test drove a few and inspected them for all the known issues. I wish I could say otherwise but, as far as I could observe, the new ones are no better.

If you absolutely must have one, not that l’m advising that, you may want to consider an older one, provided that it’s SIGNIFICANTLY discounted.

 

[VT_EE]

I know there is inventory sitting in lots that were made in the rush during November and December. I hear many were made in a tent out in the parking lot. Would you buy one of these or wait until you can get your hands on a 2019 build?

My concern is quality.

Given many are going to Europe right now, I’m not sure when that will be.

A Sprung structure is not a tent. I laugh every time it is referred to as a tent.

 

[TeeEmCee]

I laugh every time it is referred to as a tent.

... and so does the rest of the automotive industry, I would guess.
Tesla did what they had to do, but let’s not glorify that.

 

[commasign]

I have a 7 month old tent car. No issues besides a tiny paint chip and curbed wheel which were taken care of. Otherwise car has been perfect. The tent line (GA3) likely produces higher quality cars than the other lines.

 

[Uncle Paul]

Problem here is with calling the structure a tent. It give a false impression.

Nobody familar with that sprung suprestructure a tent. It is a huge commercial instant type building that give the structure and protection for an assembly line. Government and other commercial ventures have been using these structurers for many years, with great results.

Advantage is that they go up quick, are flexible and often can get governmental permitting much quicker than brick and mortar structures.

It is closer to a steel modular building than a traditional tilt up building.

I would have no issues with a car manufacturer using such a structure.

It is just more of Tesla's out of the box thinking and allowed the rapid ramp up of Model 3 production.

 

[MXWing]

My 55,xxx vin built in a tent had been awesome with inconsequential issues easily fixed in one visit.

 

[frank69]

They were probably painted in the tent also since the pain seems to have some dirt between the paint and clear coat.

 

[brkaus]

They were probably painted in the tent also since the pain seems to have some dirt between the paint and clear coat.

No painting is done in the tent.

 

[pipestem]

Mine was built Dec 2018 and no issues found by me. Good ones do happen.

I have been wondering if it was a tent model, but will never know.

 

[Shock-On-T]

I know there is inventory sitting in lots that were made in the rush during November and December. I hear many were made in a tent out in the parking lot. Would you buy one of these or wait until you can get your hands on a 2019 build?

My concern is quality.

Given many are going to Europe right now, I’m not sure when that will be.

The Bedouin Teslas are the best. Go for it!

 

[2012MS85]

My 3 (blue with white interior) was built the first week of December, and I took delivery Dec 14. It's absolutely flawless, even though it might have been built in the world's nicest tent

 

[frank69]

No painting is done in the tent.

How sure are you? I went to a detailer shop to get my clear bra on. Obviously, they needed to clean-up the paint before that. The guy who I trust because he's done my other cars for the last 10 years said Tesla model 3s are notorious for having a bit of dirt between the paint and clear coat so he couldn't clean-up a bunch of my marks.

 

[kengchang]

Tent is General Assembly, not paint shop

 

[Darren Donovan]

I have a 7 month old tent car. No issues besides a tiny paint chip and curbed wheel which were taken care of. Otherwise car has been perfect. The tent line (GA3) likely produces higher quality cars than the other lines.

What does that say about the "other lines", doesn't give a positive impression at all, Lol.

 

[Darren Donovan]

Problem here is with calling the structure a tent. It give a false impression.

Nobody familar with that sprung suprestructure a tent. It is a huge commercial instant type building that give the structure and protection for an assembly line. Government and other commercial ventures have been using these structurers for many years, with great results.

Advantage is that they go up quick, are flexible and often can get governmental permitting much quicker than brick and mortar structures.

It is closer to a steel modular building than a traditional tilt up building.

I would have no issues with a car manufacturer using such a structure.

It is just more of Tesla's out of the box thinking and allowed the rapid ramp up of Model 3 production.

If it's so good, then why don't other companies utilize it? Let's be honest and not sugarcoat it, Tesla used it because they had to. Elon would much rather have the assembly done in a conventional building.