Change from alcantara to cloth on PUP???

[T34ME]

When you are building a new home, everything is spelled out in the build contract. Every option. Every upgrade. The associated price for each extra is put in the contract. You should not be surprised by anything when the home is completed.

True, that is for a custom build, but we are talking about mass market here, not one offs, both homes and cars

 

[EV-lutioin]

Exactly, the part you see and feel, right in front of your eyes, pretty much a deal breaker.

I generally look at the road in front of me rather than the pillars (I actually had to go out and look at the car I have owned for 1.5 years to see what material it had), but whatever, sometimes it's the little things that matter. Since the Model 3 is out for you, does the Bolt have Alcantera?

 

[AnxietyRanger]

True, that is for a custom build, but we are talking about mass market here, not one offs, both homes and cars

Just on a tangent (not really relevant as I'm not expecting Tesla to offer this):

The Germans will equip even your Audi A4 size car with whatever headliner you want, though. In Audi's case it is called Audi Exclusive - they have their ready-made selection, but can also acommodate pretty much anything upholstering, paints, even some controls etc. wise., as part of the factory delivery.

 

[MotoEvCA]

just to be clear, you mean "everything above the doorline" is cloth, right? The door panels have remained synthetic suede, I would hope.

Every time someone has to rely on the 'general public' to provide clarification on the contents of the PUP it clarifies the root cause of the problem: Tesla choosing to NOT provide clear specifications and pictures for their products consistently and timely on their website (no tweets, no off-the-cuff Elon statements).

PUP Confusion 01.12.2018:

• Black Interior w/ Vegan Leather seats
• Door panel inserts were an alcantara-like material. Has that changed going forward?
• Headliner material changed from alcantara-like material to a woven material where the type of material is not clearly stated by Tesla
• If you choose to wait for white Vegan Leather seats will the door panel inserts change? If so, what will they be?

Also, why should a person buying a 50K+ car have to ask strangers if they can meet somewhere to view their Model 3 and ask for a ride in order to have a sense for what they will be getting?

This has become less amusing by the minute.

 

[AnxietyRanger]

@MotoEvCA My take at this time is that currently Alcantara still is on the door panels, just as some have received cars with Alcantara sunvisors (and alternatively some just with the material or similar on the mirror flap)...

But going forward it does sound awfully like it might be going away as a material entirely - at least until they can source more? OTOH maybe the door panel supply route is different and does include Alcantara...?

Agreed that Tesla is the one who sould proactively and pre-emptively be providing this type of info...

 

[Stoneymonster]

Also, why should a person buying a 50K+ car have to ask strangers if they can meet somewhere to view their Model 3 and ask for a ride in order to have a sense for what they will be getting?

This has become less amusing by the minute.

When you are the earliest of early adopters of a brand new vehicle off a brand new line that hasn’t even produced 5000 copies yet and is behind schedule. Those of us who went through the S ramp are a bit more sanguine I guess.

 

[MotoEvCA]

True, that is for a custom build, but we are talking about mass market here, not one offs, both homes and cars

Most mainstream builders (I have witnessed Pulte and others) have indicators/signs in their Model Homes for items that are an additional cost option. What you are saying is primarily factually incorrect and why consumers should expect sellers to provide the information clearly and timely.

Relying on anecdotal blog commentary has proven to be a source for inconsistency and frustration.

 

[MotoEvCA]

When you are the earliest of early adopters of a brand new vehicle off a brand new line that hasn’t even produced 5000 copies yet and is behind schedule. Those of us who went through the S ramp are a bit more sanguine I guess.

Tesla has been in business for more than a decade and if Elon has the mental capacity to plan for a trip to Mars (on a Falcon Heavy rocket),he and his Tesla management team should be able to provide/communicate accurate interior specifications and material changes on the Model 3.

A Sanguine Model S Owner you may be but what happens in the operational manufacturing space of Tesla does not prevent / obstruct Tesla's ability to communicate of about Model 3 specifications clearly along with any subsequent changes to materials. Tesla has thousands of employees and many in management roles.

If Tesla management has to wait for Elon to communicate to paying customers about a change in product specifications, the financial markets should punish Tesla stock accordingly for poor leadership and delegation of responsibilities.

SpaceX once again postpones Falcon Heavy test fire

 

[Stoneymonster]

Tesla has been in business for more than a decade and if Elon has the mental capacity to plan for a trip to Mars (on a Falcon Heavy rocket),he and his Tesla management team should be able to provide/communicate accurate interior specifications and material changes on the Model 3.

A Sanguine Model S Owner you may be but what happens in the operational manufacturing space of Tesla does not prevent / obstruct Tesla's ability to communicate of about Model 3 specifications clearly along with any subsequent changes to materials. Tesla has thousands of employees and many in management roles.

If Tesla management has to wait for Elon to communicate to paying customers about a change in product specifications, the financial markets should punish Tesla stock accordingly for poor leadership and delegation of responsibilities.

SpaceX once again postpones Falcon Heavy test fire

Has it occured to anyone that they didn’t provide a specific list of interior materials precisely so they could be flexible with the supply chain if necessary? They didn’t just forget to mention it.

 

[EV-lutioin]

I'm weighing in as:

• someone who discovered Tesla in 2006;
• as someone who owns a Signature 100 Roadster;
• as someone who also has a reservation on the second gen Roadster;
• as someone who has been waiting for the Model 3 since it was just a code word -- Bluestar.

I'd put my Tesla bona fides up against anyone's. (Maybe @bonnie excepted -- but I think even she is going to have to admit that anyone who paid the $3,500 for a Model 3 who is unhappy with this is entitled to their money back if they want to walk away from the car due to this material change -- and that Tesla cannot keep the non-refundable $2,500 portion they could normally if someone tried to back out.)

I still remember when Tesla raised the cost of the Roadster from $90,000 to $109,000 in 2007, and decided to sell the charger extra, and did a bunch of things back then that are not all that dissimilar from this current situation. But back then, they deserved the slack. It was understandable. This #alcantaragate business in 2018 is not acceptable.

You know what I did, despite my 10+ year love for Tesla in the wake of #Alcantaragate? I've started cross-shopping the Model 3 with another car. This is going to come out about the same time as the AWD 3, and will start at about the same price as the AWD performance 3. I never even thought I'd go out of my way to test drive this thing. And now I'm actually considering it:

View attachment 272870

Intriguing car, but how is Jaguar charging network coming along?

 

[jayhawk3]

So are you saying Tesla should have raised their prices on their cars instead if they were faced with a substantial increase in cost of materials? I think "cheaping out" sounds derogatory here. I doubt the materials they have gone with are considered sub-premium in the fabric world. Just a different kind of material than what they had used before.

No, you sign an option contract like every other company that knows they are going to need some product for several years and lock in the price. Airlines buy fuel years in advance to remove this as a variable cost.

 

[jayhawk3]

True, that is for a custom build, but we are talking about mass market here, not one offs, both homes and cars

Not true. I have built 2 tract homes from one of the largest in the country. You spend a day at their design center and pick everything out that is over the base. It is all on a build sheet and very detailed.

 

[avesraggiana]

I have not heard ONE non-Latino person, not a one, pronounce “Alcantara” correctly anyway.

If almost no one in the entire Tesla universe has taken the trouble to even learn how to say “Alcantara” properly, then it’s good riddance to bad, Anglo-centric, ear-grating mis-pronunciation.

It’s from the Spanish, Al-CAHN-ta-ruh, and not that blackboard scraping, “Al-can-TA-ra.”

Say it properly or don’t get it at all.

 

[MotoEvCA]

I have not heard ONE non-Latino person, not a one, pronounce “Alcantara” correctly anyway.

If almost no one in the entire Tesla universe has taken the trouble to even learn how to say “Alcantara” properly, then it’s good riddance to bad, Anglo-centric, ear-grating mis-pronunciation.

It’s from the Spanish, Al-CAHN-ta-ruh, and not that blackboard scraping, “Al-can-TA-ra.”

Say it properly or don’t get it at all.

I can pronounce Cordoba and Corinthian Leather better than Ricardo. I practiced for years to impress the ladies. Saying Vegan Leather sounds so pedestrian in 2018.

Ricardo Montalban - The Master of Pronunciation

 

[S3XY]

Lol I was just typing this now. I also got the same email, and I was like "hey at least we get heated rear seats"

Sure, they confirmed it has heated seats but they never told us we would have a way to turn them on.

 

[SMAlset]

No, you sign an option contract like every other company that knows they are going to need some product for several years and lock in the price. Airlines buy fuel years in advance to remove this as a variable cost.

So if the S&X haven't had alcantara in them for a bit and Tesla's using some other material now in Model 3s that are more recent builds, why not believe that Tesla basically used up all the alcantara they had planned for and now are on to the material that they have now like they said in the email to some people here (a move that they had in the works for a while). They've used alcantara for a number of years and probably did use up the previously ordered amount (saving some for repairs). Same goes for the perforated leather seats we have in our car. Used in the Xs for a while, a few months as part of a PUP incentive in the MS, and then gone after it got used up. Probably just as simple as all that. No subterfuge. No lies. Just not a popular decision for some. Hey, we love our perferated ventilated seats and would love to see them come back so I understand the disappointment, just not the obsessing over the fabric substitution.

 

[MotoEvCA]

I have not heard ONE non-Latino person, not a one, pronounce “Alcantara” correctly anyway.

If almost no one in the entire Tesla universe has taken the trouble to even learn how to say “Alcantara” properly, then it’s good riddance to bad, Anglo-centric, ear-grating mis-pronunciation.

It’s from the Spanish, Al-CAHN-ta-ruh, and not that blackboard scraping, “Al-can-TA-ra.”

Say it properly or don’t get it at all.

Thanks for educating the public-at-large and keeping the pronunciation of a word beautiful as Ricardo explains to Letterman decades ago. Class personified....

 

[jjh1234]

The reactions in here are hilarious.

If it feels better, neither the Model S or X comes with Alcantara headliner standard. It's not even included in the current PUP-package. So one can order a Model X + PUP and will get the black textile headliner. This is FACT. Premium headliner is part of the premium interior upgrade for X/S, and it's no place called Alcantara.

No standard priced BMW, Audi or Porsche comes with Alcantara so the references to Hondas is a bit far fetched.

Incorrect. My 2016 MS75D without PUP or premium interior had the Alcantara headliner.

 

[K-MTG]

Black alcantara headliner would be a different story...I was considering an S but they don't offer a black headliner with the cream seats!! I love the black alcantara with tan seats on my X...wish they would make something like that again.

 

[hacer]

Has it occured to anyone that they didn’t provide a specific list of interior materials precisely so they could be flexible with the supply chain if necessary? They didn’t just forget to mention it.

Sure, there are lots of similar options:

kovifabrics
ultrasuede
Alcantara

and I'm sure there are other makers as well. It is woven polyester after all. I'm not specifically wanting the Alcantara brand, I just care how it looks, feels, smells, cleans, and lasts.