I think you may be right, but it doesn't change my opinion of how Tesla handled this situation. I didn't even get an email like these folks did (I assume it's not a hoax, since many folks seem to have gotten it). 3, 4 years ago, I might have remained optimistic that Tesla meant no harm and is going to do right... but that rosy view went out the window after many disappointments like these.
Perhaps whatever is on the horizon will be retrofittable (or we'll have the X and won't care). Either way, sounds dramatic, but at this pace the X (if we go through with it) is likely to be our last Tesla.
It's not a hoax. I got the same email.
I'm always cautious about assigning malicious intent, where there remains the possibility of simple error or confusion. I'm guessing that they've been internally p'd off at themselves for having made a design error and are exceedingly frustrated and embarrassed at having screwed up something so simple. But, things happen. It's taken so long to get to this point because the process of redesign, tooling mods, prototype production, and durability testing takes a lot of time. And the longer it takes, the more pressure there it to make it work and so there's more reluctance to throw in the towel. And around we go. I'm an engineer, so I know how these things happen!
What you're seeing in the email is a bit of genuine humanity, I think. Tesla is a tiny company by auto standards and you're seeing a fairly unpolished response from a bunch of frustrated and embarrassed people. I suspect that EM would have been involved in the decision to throw in the towel on this and that there are a lot of people not feeling happy today.
In a situation like this you're never going to make the customers happy. I think they're walking a reasonable line.
a) Send out an email that, distilled down, says:
- "We can't produce what we promised. We're p'd at ourselves and we're embarrassed and sorry."
- "This is what we can produce. You're welcome to buy it. We've got a bunch, but we don't know if we're making more."
b) Since this email just came out, you know that they just threw in the towel in the last day or two. They're probably all sitting in front of a whiteboard saying something like: "Okay... we completely f'd that up. Do we abandon the whole thing or come up with something different?"
c) In the background they're probably looking at their new interior design and wondering at what point they stop trying to retrofit the old one, and what can be done to accelerate the new design into production.
I'll guarantee that nothing here is malicious. This is a bunch of overworked humans who screwed up and are dealing with it the best that they can, without a whole army of lawyers and PR consultants filtering their words. I find it kinda refreshing honestly. And while I'd like a center console, I still love the car without it!
My 2 cents.