First Signature and First Production Delivery in Australia

[danielp]

I agree. I've heard others being told Jan/Feb for deliveries if they order now.

Problem is based on the current progress and level of communication, I fail to see how they can meet that timeline. I only see it possible if they are launching this month. And then they'll need the bandwidth for 20 cars per week?? I assume at least 150 are queued up...

 

[Adapptor]

Call me an optimist but I think this guy has it wrong. My hunch is that the first signature cars will be delivered after Japan start getting their cars. I am certain that all of us on this forum who ordered early will get our cars this year.

Pity about the status not meaning anything though.

Not so sure Timpoo. I think this may be true for Syd/Melb early orders but I think the other states and territories will be waiting till at least Jan/Feb.

 

[timpoo]

Not so sure Timpoo. I think this may be true for Syd/Melb early orders but I think the other states and territories will be waiting till at least Jan/Feb.

Ah yes. General production cars in states outside of Vic and nsw might be an issue.

 

[MangroveMike]

Not so sure Timpoo. I think this may be true for Syd/Melb early orders but I think the other states and territories will be waiting till at least Jan/Feb.

First the first time ever, I'm hoping Newcastle will be considered an outer suburb of Sydney
Apparently there are at least three confirmed for Newie, I was hoping for exclusivity for a while.

 

[Dborn]

BREAKING NEWS!
From Jerome a few minutes ago.
Thank you for your message from today and from 2 days ago. Please note that I am traveling extensively throughout the world and that I am not always able to respond immediately to the hundreds of messages I receive every day.

We will start deliveries in Australia when we have the minimum service support for the Model S and our customers. As you know we are in the middle of building up that support. It will not happen before October, at the earliest. There are some factors which are not completely under our control (landlords, permits, construction crews) but our team on the ground is working feverishly to accelerate the process and start deliveries as soon as possible.

We realize that you are eager to take delivery of your Model S and we are eager to deliver it! Many thanks for your continued support and your patience. Best regards,

Jerome Guillen I VP, WW sales and service

 

[LGGD]

Thanks for the update Dborn. As we all know, things such as landlords, permits and construction crews can take much longer than expected here in Australia. I think this is very ominous news and in my opinion goes towards confirming my suspicion that we are still quite a long way from a launch in Australia. I highly doubt it will be in October and wouldn't even want to bet on November or December (although I will be glad to be proved wrong).

A relevant impact of this is that when they do finally launch they will be delivering to Dborn and myself cars that are at least 3 months old and in the case of the cars from the first batch that was built for Australia, cars that are over 4 months old. And as I fear, this is best case - we could end up being delivered 6 month old cars potentially missing physical upgrades that might happen in the next few months.

This complete lack of preparedness for an Australian launch (in spite of having had a presence here for years) is also the reason why, as I mentioned earlier, that there has been no further Australian orders going into production. Somebody (belatedly) figured out that there was no point in building cars for Australia when they have no ability to deliver them.

 

[Mark E]

BREAKING NEWS!
It will not happen before October, at the earliest.
Jerome Guillen I VP, WW sales and service

Thanks for posting but that is very disappointing news. This really could have been sorted out much earlier.

 

[Higgy]

Thanks for the update Dborn,

Tesla really need a very simple communication strategy - keeping the holders informed of the process and progress (e.g. as per Jerome's email) on a regular basis would do wonders.

I am not concerned with a month or two delay - but it would be nice to be kept up to date with progress and/or delays.

All else raised the frustration level and creates annoyance.

PS: Dborn, as you have his 'ear' so to speak perhaps you could suggest that regular updates, even with disappointing news, are better than letting rumour go rampant. Perhaps you could suggest they trial such an approach in Australia.

 

[danielp]

Surely they can still get the first few signatures launched in September and supported through their existing site? Is that a reasonable assumption?

 

[timpoo]

Surely they can still get the first few signatures launched in September and supported through their existing site? Is that a reasonable assumption?

I still think Mr Brown + and his bro + S.Hackett + and the other first sig holders will get their cars in September.

I think the rest of us, including sigs, will have to wait until end October...

 

[Dborn]

Thanks for the update Dborn,

Tesla really need a very simple communication strategy - keeping the holders informed of the process and progress (e.g. as per Jerome's email) on a regular basis would do wonders.

I am not concerned with a month or two delay - but it would be nice to be kept up to date with progress and/or delays.

All else raised the frustration level and creates annoyance.

PS: Dborn, as you have his 'ear' so to speak perhaps you could suggest that regular updates, even with disappointing news, are better than letting rumour go rampant. Perhaps you could suggest they trial such an approach in Australia.

Done. Mr Guillen picked up on a post regarding communication with him i wrote on the company forum and wrote a second mail to me today. I took the opportunity in replying to advocate for regular communication for us all, and particular communication with WA and Qld. reservation holders.

 

[Higgy]

Thanks for that - we will see what happens. I would happily write a communications policy for them!

 

[Dborn]

Mr Guillen is clearly annoyed regarding my post on the Tesla site. I humbly acknowledge that he usually does respond to messages, and that his delay in response to me was aggravated by frustration.
Here is his latest response.

"Thanks for your note.

Can you please specific which email of a “few days ago”? I have received an email from you on August 27 at 4:40PM PST (which was 1:40AM on August 28 in Europe where I was at that time). I noticed that you posted on the forum on August 29 that emails (plural in your wording) were left unanswered. At Tesla, we strive to treat all customers fairly: I might be naïve, but I would expect that customers do the same with us, especially when we work non-stop to design, build and deliver the best possible cars.

For customers in New Zealand, we appreciate their interest and commitment to Tesla, but we are not going to be present there in the short to medium term. They will have to bear the consequences of their choices: in particular, if they buy a European car, the warranty will only be valid in Europe, requiring them to ship the car back to Europe for warranty work.

As for customers in Australia located away from any location where we intend to have a service center in the short- to medium-term, they are welcome to take delivery of their Model S at any of the delivery center in Australia, but they will have to accept that they cannot have local service and they will have to ship, at their own expense, their Model S to the nearest service center or incur per-trip ranger costs. For the customers who are located near to a location where we intend to have a service center in the short- to medium-term, we will service the Model S under the standard warranty terms."

There was no comment in relation to regular communication requested.

 

[danielp]

Treating customers fairly would require a little proactive communication from the team, which I don't think we've seen. You know - reaching out to your customers, rather than always waiting for them to reach out to you.

 

[Higgy]

Ouch....but miss-communication and resulting frustration would be reduced if Tesla paid us the courtesy of communicating before we all (including them) took umbrage!

 

[meloccom]

So let's be optimistic and assume Australia may have 400 orders outstanding for Model S.
That represents about 4 days of production.
In response Tesla have hired Stone (Asset Lite) , James (Sales), Mitchell (Charging Infrastructure), Shirley (Service) and Evan (Supercharger Network) and others (Melbourne sales) in the last few months.
I think that alone represents a significant commitment to a small market, on the other side of the world, with a geographically dispersed population with an anti EV government.
I personally am surprised by the depth of the commitment by Tesla to including Australia in the Tesla "Secret Plan" outlined by Elon back in 2006 and is what makes Tesla different.
It would have been so much easier to just concentrate on the large markets USA, Europe and China but they have again, chosen the harder path because in the long term it is the better path.
The fact that they are willing to stretch themselves this far deserves our respect and -- patience.
Chill people.

 

[Adapptor]

...As for customers in Australia located away from any location where we intend to have a service center in the short- to medium-term, they are welcome to take delivery of their Model S at any of the delivery center in Australia, but they will have to accept that they cannot have local service and they will have to ship, at their own expense, their Model S to the nearest service center or incur per-trip ranger costs. For the customers who are located near to a location where we intend to have a service center in the short- to medium-term, we will service the Model S under the standard warranty terms.".

Believe it or not this news actually pleases me and is a good example of why some communication is better than radio silence. I, like many non NSW/VIC customers, was beginning to think we had no way to get our vehicles until a local service centre opened (WA in my case).

At least now we appear to have a choice, albeit an expensive one, but one that I just might take. This good news, does now throw up a bunch of questions for me:

* Can I actually 'take delivery' of the vehicle in VIC/NSW when I don't currently have an address there?
* If I can does that mean the vehicle simply remains unregistered until it arrives here in WA and I get plates?
* Are new car brands listed on a national or state registry? i.e. Will the WA transport licensing folks have Tesla on their system?
* Will TMC be approachable to a scheduled, state based, ranger service? i.e All WA owners sharing the cost of the ranger visit for scheduled service?

Now, any of the other WA folks want to plan a Tesla road-trip across the Nullarbor - well OK make that a flight and rail-trip ; ) ?

 

[TesAus]

So let's be optimistic and assume Australia may have 400 orders outstanding for Model S.
That represents about 4 days of production.
In response Tesla have hired Stone (Asset Lite) , James (Sales), Mitchell (Charging Infrastructure), Shirley (Service) and Evan (Supercharger Network) and others (Melbourne sales) in the last few months.
I think that alone represents a significant commitment to a small market, on the other side of the world, with a geographically dispersed population with an anti EV government.
I personally am surprised by the depth of the commitment by Tesla to including Australia in the Tesla "Secret Plan" outlined by Elon back in 2006 and is what makes Tesla different.
It would have been so much easier to just concentrate on the large markets USA, Europe and China but they have again, chosen the harder path because in the long term it is the better path.
The fact that they are willing to stretch themselves this far deserves our respect and -- patience.
Chill people.

I agree with most of what you are saying, but it has to be tempered by the fact that Tesla was quite happy to take deposits (sizeable deposits for signature reservation holders) and in doing so have provided a commitment and expectation that they will deliver within a reasonable period.

 

[danielp]

I agree with most of what you are saying, but it has to be tempered by the fact that Tesla was quite happy to take deposits (sizeable deposits for signature reservation holders) and in doing so have provided a commitment and expectation that they will deliver within a reasonable period.

I held off participating until it was announced (with pricing) that they were entering the Australian market for real. I also based this decision on their ability to deliver orders within 12-16 weeks. I admire those of you that put deposits down before that, but I'm after the "Production" experience.

With that in mind, I only ordered and confirmed in early July, at the point when it was pretty evident that they were committed to a near-term launch. There was lots of evidence to back this up, including sales, election of sites, hiring of mechanics, etc. What got me over the line is that they said if I ordered/confirmed now, I can expect delivery in Spring. So I did. With Spring starting tomorrow, they still have time to deliver, but it is going to be tight.

Major disappointment if December comes around with no car, especially if no amends to proper communication happen soon. And I'll feel like I've been suckered, because I thought they were ready.

Personally, I'm still upbeat on the prospect that they are very close to launching and delivering vehicles in spring, so I'm going with that for now. I've been impressed with the Sydney team and I think they'll make it happen with HQ support. I'm also going to work under the assumption of no news is good news; that'd they'd tell me when they're going to slip from their commitment of spring.

 

[Dborn]

I held off participating until it was announced (with pricing) that they were entering the Australian market for real. I also based this decision on their ability to deliver orders within 12-16 weeks. I admire those of you that put deposits down before that, but I'm after the "Production" experience.

With that in mind, I only ordered and confirmed in early July, at the point when it was pretty evident that they were committed to a near-term launch. There was lots of evidence to back this up, including sales, election of sites, hiring of mechanics, etc. What got me over the line is that they said if I ordered/confirmed now, I can expect delivery in Spring. So I did. With Spring starting tomorrow, they still have time to deliver, but it is going to be tight.

Major disappointment if December comes around with no car, especially if no amends to proper communication happen soon. And I'll feel like I've been suckered, because I thought they were ready.

Personally, I'm still upbeat on the prospect that they are very close to launching and delivering vehicles in spring, so I'm going with that for now. I've been impressed with the Sydney team and I think they'll make it happen with HQ support. I'm also going to work under the assumption of no news is good news; that'd they'd tell me when they're going to slip from their commitment of spring.

They haven't advised directly of any of the other delays to date, beginning with the termination of Jay in 2012 and the 1year deferment at that time. Then it was supposed to be end 2013. Then Autumn 2014, now, as you say, Spring 2014.