Change from alcantara to cloth on PUP???

[bonnie]

Easily. You just update the description and pictures of the Model 3 on Tesla.com so that they are accurate. Then the thread will automatically go away.

That's been done. Didn't work.

 

[Carnook]

That's been done. Didn't work.

The press kit still shows the Alcantara. Maybe thats the missing link.

 

[anticitizen13.7]

Keeping this thread on topic is like herding cats.............

Every time I see "PUP" show up in my forum alerts, I think of dogs...

 

[insaneoctane]

Slowly Tesla is performing Alcantaracide relative to the Model 3 (maybe MS/MX too)...it's almost complete.

 

[Garlan Garner]

Tesla should at least tell those waiting for an order......if anything changes in what they are displaying on their website as well as what people saw during their test drive at the reveal event.

It would be so easy to just tweet it.

 

[outdoors]

Tesla should at least tell those waiting for an order......if anything changes in what they are displaying on their website as well as what people saw during their test drive at the reveal event.

It would be so easy to just tweet it.

Garlan,

We finally agree on something. Sort of.

Agreed on the batch process. If something changes at the time one goes to configuration. Something that is generally considered common knowledge one should be notified at that time, and after. After would annoy me as it has others.. I have always said that is valid.

Common knowledge items would be like we care items. I don't care about your valve stems or bushings. You could get lost in the weeds.

Performance items/Aesthetic items. Those are the big things looking back over the years of conversations.

After that. I think they go back to the normal configuration process. That could be a while.

Tweeting. That is where we differ. Saying one should tweet is still leaving out the many of the audience that many say are crying right now about the Alcantara they never even knew existed. Not in the car. What it even is.

Now back to the VIN's

 

[Garlan Garner]

There are going to be future owners reading this who wouldn't have noticed or cared otherwise, and it's going to detract from the pleasure they get out of their purchase. I just think that's a bit of a shame.

If I was purchasing an item the price of the Model 3.....I would want as much information as I could get. I don't want to soley hear from a bunch of people who love the product. I want "the whole truth".

Cam you imagine someone coming to this forum looking for the whole truth / buy a Tesla / and find out later that this forum is only telling one side of the story?

If the purpose of this forum is to encourage new comers to purchase a Tesla no matter what.....then I get it...and I totally missed the purpose.

 

[bonnie]

If I was purchasing an item the price of the Model 3.....I would want as much information as I could get. I don't want to soley hear from a bunch of people who love the product. I want "the whole truth".

Cam you imagine someone coming to this forum looking for the whole truth / buy a Tesla / and find out later that this forum is only telling one side of the story?

If the purpose of this forum is to encourage new comers to purchase a Tesla no matter what.....then I get it...and I totally missed the purpose.

Garlan, that's not what he was saying. There are plenty of threads on this forum about problems.

I agree with @ohmman - there are lots of people who didn't care about the headliner, wouldn't have cared - but this thread has gotten them worked up. And it's a shame that their delight will be not quite as much, because of something they didn't know they cared about.

 

[Garlan Garner]

Garlan, that's not what he was saying. There are plenty of threads on this forum about problems.

I agree with @ohmman - there are lots of people who didn't care about the headliner, wouldn't have cared - but this thread has gotten them worked up. And it's a shame that their delight will be not quite as much, because of something they didn't know they cared about.

Its not about the headliner. That's the point. I'm not talking about the headliner.

New people need to know that Tesla doesn't have model years and that they change things anytime they want and sometimes without even telling people.

That's the truth and also a part of this thread.

 

[jayhawk3]

Garlan, that's not what he was saying. There are plenty of threads on this forum about problems.

I agree with @ohmman - there are lots of people who didn't care about the headliner, wouldn't have cared - but this thread has gotten them worked up. And it's a shame that their delight will be not quite as much, because of something they didn't know they cared about.

You know what else would have made them not care? Delivering the first 2000 cars with textile headliner and not giving press and your employees something practically no one else is going to even have the option for. Or, in the alternative, not releasing a dismissive press statement that says you planned on doing that all along. No one would have cared.

 

[ohmman]

If I was purchasing an item the price of the Model 3.....I would want as much information as I could get. I don't want to soley hear from a bunch of people who love the product. I want "the whole truth".

Cam you imagine someone coming to this forum looking for the whole truth / buy a Tesla / and find out later that this forum is only telling one side of the story?

If the purpose of this forum is to encourage new comers to purchase a Tesla no matter what.....then I get it...and I totally missed the purpose.

Take it easy.

Getting as much information as possible is fine and commendable. I didn't say we shouldn't have this thread - I said (and you quoted me!)

There are going to be future owners reading this who wouldn't have noticed or cared otherwise, and it's going to detract from the pleasure they get out of their purchase. I just think that's a bit of a shame.

The information is pretty clear early on. The vast majority of this thread is people expressing their personal discontent with this change. If someone didn't care, and they read this, their pleasure at a new car could be diminished. And if you don't have a problem with that, fine. But hopefully you can understand why I think it is "a bit of a shame."

 

[insaneoctane]

While there exists the possibility of a potential owner absorbing some disappointment via osmosis of this thread, I feel like that possibly exists in general when reading these forums. I don't know if this thread is particularly dangerous. I do think that this "issue" was particularly offensive to some, but offers the same "danger" as the forum in general. Daily, I read many complaints about things that I don't care about and feel like I just move on.

 

[DarkMatter]

Forums absolutely suffer from that. It's easy to see a huge thread like this and forget that the bulk of it is about two dozen of us.

 

[Garlan Garner]

Forums allow the covers to be pulled back. Sometimes they reveal the good of something or the bad of something.....or combination of the 2.

I don't see a problem with that.


For example. If Tesla screws up.....then they do. Its not the fault of anyone here. If they do well.....then say it.

The problem of most forums come in when a forum has an objective or a bias that isn't shared with everyone.

 

[TEG]

This is just one of many threads all over the place where this venting has taken place.

The very first post here was just a reference to the topic on the official forums:
What happened to the Alcantara Headliner? | Tesla

And there was a parallel thread here:
CONFIRMED - Change from Alcantara to cloth on PUP??.

And many more.

So I don't think we have to feel too much shame about discussing it here. It was a hot topic in many places.

 

[AnxietyRanger]

Looking forward, I think a key takeaway here is that Tesla should just be upfront about changes like this in an accurate manner. For example, we still to this day have confliciting information on whether this applies to Model S/X too (Tesla drops Alcantara headliners from Model S/X?). (I guess I'm leaning on it doesn't, but when a detail-oriented obsessive follower like myself doesn't know for sure, the average guy for sure does not either.)

There have been other sorry examples of changes being handled badly, in this case in the other direction, such as making adaptive headlights standard and then not building them like that (e.g. Missing Adaptive Headlights... 4 months in... and Another Tesla Screw-up? (Three-position dynamic LED Turning Light)). They should find some solution where the product and the information and the expectation line up.

In my experience features like this do matter to a portion of the car-buying public, that portion that has a tendency to visit automotive forums. Relying people being happy solely on ignorance on what changes in such a large product purchase is not a very good long-term strategy IMO. A much better one is Tesla finding some way of reliably offering timely and solid information on what the cars are built with - and doing it before it becomes a storm.

The more forums like TMC become, out of necessity, automotive forums (instead of EV mission or investment forums) as the demographies change with more cars sold, the more people it will attract that do care about these things. If e.g. Audi had changed headliner by surprise, it would totally been a huge thread on similar forums. Every single thing (they release a list) they change always is, but since they are known/announced changes, their style is very different. (And we all know what happened when they didn't announce their diesel emissions...)

I think it was a mistake on Tesla's part to try first not announce this and then, when they finally did after the fact, to try to spin this as a positive change. Nobody with an ounce of automotive history can buy this as a positive change, it just isn't believable, the change was to a cheaper, less premium material, so IMO they should have just communicated upfront about changing from suede-like to cloth-like, clearly told what it applies to, and left it at that.

It would have been OK. The new material is fine in itself. Keep repeating this for every user-facing change in some reliable manner, rinse and repeat. Transparency. Over time people trust what you are saying and delivering more and more. This will always be a better strategy than trying to slip changes past people and hope they won't notice. The backlash when they do notice, will be much bigger than had you been upfront.

I sincerely hope Tesla hears this.

 

[insaneoctane]

I agree with you @AnxietyRanger. Unfortunately, Tesla tries to be purposely vague to allow themselves maximum flexibility. Alcantara-gate is an excellent example of when that approach does not work out. If they continue to operate fast and loose like this, they will need to figure out a better way to predict which changes will have blow back and get ahead of them. Tesla payed for Alcantara-gate with some expensive brand respect and loyalty.

 

[Vladi S]

This misuse of 'bait & switch' is grinding on my last nerve.

Even if your reservation had been made with Tesla showing you different materials, that would not be 'bait & switch'. Bait and switch is when they show you something else to get the sale & then switch it up on you. 'Bait and switch' implies a deliberate action intended to hoodwink customers in order to get a sale (not a reservation for a spot in line, but a sale) -- and really, if Tesla wanted to do that, would it be a headliner? (Answer is 'no'.)

Since when reservations were made 1) none of us knew the interior material if reservation was made BEFORE the reveal, and, 2) none of us knew the interior material if reservation was made online AFTER the reveal, and, 3) all reservations are refundable, really the ONLY people who could say 'bait and switch' are the ones who placed their order when alcantara was being shown & something else gets delivered.

And as I've said before, I'm sure the people in that category that are upset over the change can talk to Tesla directly and find a mutually acceptable resolution. But if you're not in that category, there is no bait & switch, no matter how you twist it.

They have changed the material after they took my second non-refundable deposit and kept silent about it. When I noticed it and asked they said you can take it or leave it. Thats not right!

 

[Vladi S]

This is the most important point. Some people didn't care about headliner, XM, AM, wheels or other stuff. Some do!
How would you feel if after 2 year wait, 1 month after you configured your car and paid the non-refundable second deposit you come to pick up your car and something you cared about and expected it there is not, yet there is another car just like your sitting next to it with that option present and you are told that thats somebody else car and we decided to upgrade your car by removing the option you liked without letting you know and charging you the same money. How is this fair? What does it look like to you when they ask you to sign all the documents and pay the balance before they show you your car ?

I agree completely. Personally, I think the people who confirmed while Alcantara was the only interior shown to the public or on the web, should get some sort of compensation (even if it's something simple like some supercharging credits).

Everyone after that point can be disappointed, but should not claim "bait and switch"

Having said that, it would be nice if Tesla would remove the pictures all over their site still showing Alcantara interiors in the Model 3. Even the MyTesla log in screen still shows it prominently, which is a bit like rubbing salt in the wounds of people logging in to configure.

 

[Vladi S]

@ohmman and @jayhawk3, I feel like both of you may be caught in the weeds a bit and are missing the point of most of this thread. The bulk of the intensity in this thread isn't about the headliner, it's about many of the Tesla faithful becoming angry with Tesla not for the headliner, but for Tesla's blatant lie or purposeful deception exposing an alternate lie. I'm 24 and own a Model X. I never thought I'd own such a car and am as big a fanboy as anyone you've seen, and this is the first time I'm been this disappointed. I believe my prior post explains perfectly why me and many others are upset, and I've included it below.

The problem is Tesla's "statement", which doesn't count as a statement, in fact that's the opposite, it's a -1 statement because it says the change "has always been planned at this stage of production". Uh-huh...... that was either

1) a huge lie, or
2) a huge slip up exposing a different lie.

1) If something changed and Tesla decided to discontinue it (alcantara became too expensive or they had a bad relationship with the supplier), then saying it's "always been planned" is a complete lie, and they ought to tell us the truth. Shame.

2) If they're being honest and it's always been planned at this stage of production, then there's only 1 reason why, and that was to get unwarranted positive reviews from the press who saw alcantara/get people pumped to put down $1000 for something they knew wouldn't pan out, which also in hindsight counts as a lie. If you don't agree with either of these scenarios, then someone come up with a better one! WHY would you PLAN to make only ~2000 cars one way then switch it up???

Not to mention the black (not grey) headliner in demo cars with the ultra white seats, those have just never been made at all. Why would you "PLAN" for that??

Exactly the point!!!!!! This is the second Tesla for me and I feel they took advantage of my trust and resorted to bait and switch tactics.