Change from alcantara to cloth on PUP???

[insaini]

No where does it say alcantara. All it reads on the S and X order page is dark headliner and light headliner.

It does not go into detail weather it is fabric or some sort of vinyl either ...

Look at the picture when you select standard black vs premium black ... the headliner changes ... you can even tell the difference in the thumbnail ...

standard black is a textured fabric while the premium black is a smooth texture .. so yes even though it does not list it as "Alcantara" ... the pictures show the difference

 

[hacer]

I love the alcantara in my S. People comment on it all the time and after 3 years it still looks great.

I've given so many rides to people showing off my S. About half of them (no kidding) comment on the alcantara, often asking "what is this - it looks so good". It has proven very easy to clean too. My S has a solid roof so there is a lot of alcantara in there! I love it.

So I configured and plunked down my order deposit 8 days ago. It won't be a deal breaker, and I'm going to try to keep an open mind until I actually see the new material, but I'm really disappointed. I managed to check out two model 3's in person. I was able to sit in them due to the generosity of their owners, and they had alcantara which I thought really made the interior nice. I was definitely expecting it when I placed my order.

 

[John Beans]

I believe the sheer volume of complaints about this material substitution must be motivated by more than just a desire for Alcantera above our heads. Maybe a general impatience with the long wait and a desire for more communication from Tesla in general?

No?

 

[Sunshine State]

I’d be very surprised if the current build cars are not just receiving the base model headliner. It was too quick of a change to get a new supplier. Cloth headliners were probably already in inventory or in the supply chain when the Alcantara supplier cut Tesla off across the board. I’m sure it went something like this, keep building the cars, don’t give the customers a choice they will take whatever we give them and we will figure out an alternative down the road.

 

[Sunshine State]

I've given so many rides to people showing off my S. About half of them (no kidding) comment on the alcantara, often asking "what is this - it looks so good". It has proven very easy to clean too. My S has a solid roof so there is a lot of alcantara in there! I love it.

So I configured and plunked down my order deposit 8 days ago. It won't be a deal breaker, and I'm going to try to keep an open mind until I actually see the new material, but I'm really disappointed. I managed to check out two model 3's in person. I was able to sit in them due to the generosity of their owners, and they had alcantara which I thought really made the interior nice. I was definitely expecting it when I placed my order.

I’m in exactly the same boat time wise as you after ordering but less happy about the cloth. I drove the car and looked it over really well before ordering it. I may really not want the car due to the downgrading.

 

[Aellinsar]

I believe the sheer volume of complaints about this material substitution must be motivated by more than just a desire for Alcantera above our heads. Maybe a general impatience with the long wait and a desire for more communication from Tesla in general?

No?

Perhaps. And perhaps because this has been a 2-year journey for thousands of people based on faith int he company. And then that company that you put faith in comes out and lies to you. It' sliek many have said - it's not really the material, but that they switched it after all the reviews are out. That seems really shady.

 

[Stoneymonster]

Perhaps. And perhaps because this has been a 2-year journey for thousands of people based on faith int he company. And then that company that you put faith in comes out and lies to you. It' sliek many have said - it's not really the material, but that they switched it after all the reviews are out. That seems really shady.

For those of us who've been involved with Tesla a bit longer, I suggest buckling up. Did they screw up? Yup. Do they play fast and loose? Yup. Is this par for the course over the last, uh, almost decade now? Yup.

I don't expect big changes.

Hell this isn't even the first time there's been a blowup about Alcantara being stealth removed from premium package vehicles!

Edit: Some might interpret this as saying "don't bother being upset, just take your medicine". I'm not saying don't make a fuss and try to get Tesla to change. It's just Tesla is super resistant to change.

 

[FURY]

OT, but wondering if the front flor mats fastened in some manner or are they loose on the cabin floor?

Seems I read somewhere that they are unfastened. If so, that would seem odd, at first pass.

I recall that Mercedes removed,the front unfastened additional floormats that they had provided at purchase without any notification, when the vehicle was in for service. The SA told me that there was a MBZ directive to remove all unfastened floor mats that they had provided because of the complaints of unintended, accelerator pedal related acceleration crashes.

Thank you very much

FURY

 

[SteveG3]

I’ve seen in some posts people waking up to this being a bait-and-switch, class actionable, and, as some are noting, possibly criminal situation.

What I’m surprised is not being focused on is how wide the deception from Tesla is, and on far more important issues than headliner.


How about the battery size and the range of these cars? Just a little important in an EV, right?

Tesla lies to us here. Elon explicitly tweeted the Model 3 cannot have a battery size larger than 75 kWh. What are they shipping? A bloated 80.5 kWh pack. If that’s not bad enough, apparently the usable capacity is 78.2 kWh. Yup even the usable capacity is more than the 75 kWh pack size Elon told us was the biggest we’d need to lug around.

Tesla even was so bold as to blatantly change EPA numbers on range. EPA range rating on the LR Mod 3? 334 miles. Yet Tesla somehow got the EPA to suppress those numbers and make the public rating 310 miles.

Ugh, that confounded showy handling!!!

Tesla never gave us any warning that the Model 3 would have handling that makes us look like we think we’re better than people with BMW 3 series, Mercedes C class, etc. I was told about an EV with good (but not too good!) range, not a hedonistic driving experience that’s going to shake up people’s ideas about the kind of performance possible that in this class of car. If this thing was going to be saddled with the handling of a BMW M3, Tesla should of told us in advance. Get it straight Elon, learn to underpromise and overdeliver.


Don’t get me started on the trunk opening!

Tesla quite clearly showed us a trunk opening at the reveal that was compact and modest. Now review after review comments on the oddity of the trunk opening that is disturbingly almost hatchback wide. It’s not just making the car less appealing, it’s this pattern of not even telling us they might deliver something other than what we were shown.

0-60 times which Tesla had to know some car shoppers obsess over?

Now that the car is getting out to more than Tesla/SpaceX employees, this looks like yet another bait-and-switch. That 5.1 second 0-60 they promised? Multiple reports using VBOXs of the actual time being on the other, the wrong, side of 5 seconds.

How many times has Tesla told us they’d learn from the Model X and not try to add too much tech into the Model 3?

This brings us to windshield-wiper-gate. We all saw the videos of the first couple thousand Model 3s. We all saw Tesla kept the control of those wipers to the driver only... no over-techy programming having the car try to handle the rain for you. Changed. Not only changed without advance notice, changed on those first few thousand cars already built and already enjoyed without this nonsense via an OTA update.




Look I get that some people like the look of the alacantara and prefer that it be there. From the photos I’ve seen, I think I’m one of them myself. I’m not saying anyone should not give their feedback. I appreciate Tesla hearing these preferences. I just wonder about adding to this helpful feedback (and seeking a response from Tesla to these concerns), ideas like outrage, intent to exploit the customer, criminality, etc.

 

[ummgood]

Has someone received an S with premium seats without the Alcantra because on the Tesla website it still shows Alcantra as the headliner for Black Premium vs Cloth on the Black Standard ...

There is a review a few pages back of a Model S100D with the premium interior and it doesn't have alcantara on the headliner even though the guy shows the window sticker and it has upgraded interior and PUP.

 

[Sweet OJ]

I have a solution that will work for most owners in lieu of the alcantara - just unlock a little bit more power from the motors (as the acceleration appears to be software limited by the folks that understand the physics of the motor/battery). Get the 0-60 down to the 4.3 second range and you won't hear me complain about the headliner, and I'll bet that most people agree. It doesn't cost Tesla anything to do this, whereas the alcantara requires material from an outside source. Fancy interior materials say premium, but high performance shouts it.

 

[insaneoctane]

It's simply poor customer service.

Tesla is currently the #1 brand according to consumer reports

This type of poor decision is how companies LOSE that position.
Almost completely unique to Tesla are their customers and repeat customers putting a down payment and buying their cars completely sight unseen. This is only possible because people trust Tesla. Doesn't seem smart to me for Tesla to jeopardize that. Tesla can and should fix this because the brand loss can't possibly be worth the $ saved..... Listen to your customers.

 

[flashflooder]

I would liken it to, say, Apple releasing two tiered models of the iPhone (like they did with the 5s / 5c). One with premium materials and the other without (aluminum vs plastic). They go as far as to send out the review units in this configuration, and naturally most if not all of the reviews at least mention the quality of the materials, as it is one of the biggest consumer-facing differences in the 2 configurations.

A week later, the iPhones start shipping to customers and excited 5s buyers find themselves staring at a plastic phone upon savagely ripping open the box. The other upgrades they paid for are present (faster processor, better camera, whatever), only the material has changed.

Do you think they'd be disappointed? Maybe even feel a little misled?
Now take that feeling and apply it to a purchase that costs more than 50x as much.

How well would it go over if Apple released a statement saying "we never specified aluminum!"

 

[ikjadoon]

@voip-ninja Good suggestions.

Also, Tesla could have just been upfront and open about this, instead of late and spinning. Honesty is really the best policy.

I believe the sheer volume of complaints about this material substitution must be motivated by more than just a desire for Alcantera above our heads. Maybe a general impatience with the long wait and a desire for more communication from Tesla in general?

No?

Good points.

Honesty and communication are a lot cheaper than alcantara.

The extra salt in the wound is that "this has always been planned" doesn't gel with "we continued to show the never-again-to-be-produced version to the public, Motor Trend again, Wall Street investors for the bond offering, Wall Street investors again, Motor Trend yet again, their press kit, Tesla's most loyal consumers at the Model 3 Final Reveal, and the thousands of other videos of Model 3 videos released from March 2016 until January 2018.

Really? 20 months of the car almost nobody will get? Communication is the crux of this. Just like the Supercharger counter. Just like AP2 promises. Just like the production timeline estimates.

So let's finalize this conclusion: Tesla needs more money and needs people to believe blindly in Tesla's management. "This was done for your good."

So they know they can never reveal anything negative, unless it's required through financial disclosures. Imagine the kind of information you'd get from Tesla without the financial disclosures. Communicating for the "good of the customer" has very little monetary value because Tesla is more concerned with its balance sheet (a by-product of their "get everything electric now"). In fact, Tesla fears upfront communication might reduce even revenue because they can't admit their golden ticket for " profitability / continued existence" might not be as perfect as people expected. There needs to be a consistent "bubble of security and praise".

To flip the story, ICE manufacturers have to hide their failures in EVs and electric drivetrains and batteries. But we can see through their silly excuses. The same with Tesla: they have to hide their supplier failures, their inability to stay consistent, and their disregard for being upfront with their "diehard loyal fans". But hopefully most of us can see through their silly excuses.

Tesla acts like this because 1) they can and 2) they think they need to.

Making an electric car and accelerating the adoption of sustainable transportation: I don't see where this requires "avoiding and denying the negatives until people happen across the consequences".

 

[Stoneymonster]

I would liken it to, say, Apple releasing two tiered models of the iPhone (like they did with the 5s / 5c). One with premium materials and the other without (aluminum vs plastic). They go as far as to send out the review units in this configuration, and naturally most if not all of the reviews at least mention the quality of the materials, as it is one of the biggest consumer-facing differences in the 2 configurations.

A week later, the iPhones start shipping to customers and excited 5s buyers find themselves staring at a plastic phone upon savagely ripping open the box. The other upgrades they paid for are present (faster processor, better camera, whatever), only the material has changed.

Do you think they'd be disappointed? Maybe even feel a little misled?
Now take that feeling and apply it to a purchase that costs more than 50x as much.

Except we are talking about trim material here, not the entire interior surface or body. In a PUP Model 3 with a glass roof. it's a very small amount of material. The analogy doesn't work. More realistic would be apple changing out the power button material or something.

 

[SteveG3]

Except we are talking about trim material here, not the entire interior surface or body. In a PUP Model 3 with a glass roof. it's a very small amount of material. The analogy doesn't work. More realistic would be apple changing out the power button material or something.

Precisely. What’s more, the Apple analogy also does not include several unexpected improvements, including substantial overdelivering on the core performance of the product I described a few posts upthread.

 

[jjwardSD]

People did not make assumptions. They were told by Tesla through its words and actions what to expect: Alcantara.

All pictures of the Model 3 released by Tesla were exclusively with Alcantara.
All demo cars produced by Tesla and made available to the media were exclusively with Alcantara.
The first 1500-2000 vehicles delivered were exclusively with Alcantara.
There is only a single configuration of the car available from Tesla (ie with PUP).

Any customer who has actually placed their order for a Model 3 has been misled by Tesla and not because of assumptions but because of cold hard facts.

Reservation holders have not been misled if Tesla makes proper updates to their marketing materials and demo cars prior to orders being taken. As of yet, Tesla has not done this.

Exactly. My delivery contact was willing to put in writing that I was to receive the exact same alcantara/suede material in the delivered vehicles. He said there is one and only one build configuration for the interior and all materials are exactly the same. Well, until I informed him that is not true. The entire office scrambled to figure out what is going on, now they know. Not because of Tesla, but because of us finding out on the forum and through local delivery centers (that were also surprised and uninformed).

 

[HumanGenome]

Some people completely miss the point. I doubt many people will care about Alcantara vs textile.

If you seriously read all 30 pages of this and came to that conclusion.. oh boy

 

[flashflooder]

Except we are talking about trim material here, not the entire interior surface or body. In a PUP Model 3 with a glass roof. it's a very small amount of material. The analogy doesn't work. More realistic would be apple changing out the power button material or something.

I'll concede that it's probably somewhere in between the entire surface and the power button. The bottom line, however, is that is is not an acceptable way to do business. I can't believe people are actually (and aggressively, in some cases) defending it.

Like I said before, the material itself is not that important to me, it's just the complete lack of accountability on Tesla's part that really bothers me. If the change was planned, as they stated, then they deliberately showed the world a different product than they were going to be delivering.

Had Tesla come out and told the truth: that they can't get the Alacantra anymore (at least that'd be my guess), and sorry, but we're giving you a really nice "premium textile" instead... I don't think we'd be seeing quite the same reaction. I know personally, I would've shrugged and probably said "that kinda sucks". Instead they tried to sweep it under the rug, and are now lying about it.

 

[North75]

So if Tesla had come out and said something along the lines of: "We have a supplier problem with Alcantara headliner material. We can not obtain enough material to meet our production rate. In order to keep producing Model 3's we have switched to a premium textile material..."

Would most of you be pissed off that they made the change, or happy that they kept going with Production?

I have mixed feelings, as I was looking forward to the Alcantara material. On the otherhand, I'm certainly looking forward to getting my car as soon as possible.

(I'm still hoping that they either make a concession and drop the price slightly, or figure out a way to switch back to the Alcantara or similar material before my car is actually made. I'm also starting to debate if I should now wait for the D version just thinking it will give them more time to change it back)