So much for deliveries by 7/31.

[Zythryn]

Soon cars will start to roll off the production line at a steady beat and this whole discussion about Founders vs Signatures vs regular production will die a quiet death. (fyi, they're all customers, imho)

It doesn't matter.

+1!! Couldn't agree more.

 

[CapitalistOppressor]

I agree that *these* founders are not real customers, as they are obviously accepting cars that don't even contain the final design. These deliveries surely come with the caveat that the car will be "updated" to match what is eventually delivered to "real" customers in late August. I wouldn't be surprised if "updated" actually means "replaced", but who knows?

I'm not any less excited about the car because of this, but it's disappointing to see another missed deadline and PR tricks. Did Elon take the money from that bet he made about deliveries by July?

The bet was to have deliveries before the end of 2012. And Dan Neil considers founders to be customers for purposes of his bet.

Also, when the bet was made in 2009 there was already a ton of chatter that initial deliveries would be delayed and that Tesla was unlikely to meet their winter 2011 goal. Considering that I'm quite sure Dan Neil would have accepted a bet specifying that cars needed to be delivered by the end of 2011, it should have been pretty obvious even as early as 2009 that Elon Musk himself thought that it was likely that cars would be shipped in 2012.

 

[aviators99]

You said you "made my car selling-buying plans last year based on an April delivery".

If you made that decision last year, you weren't misled since Summer 2012 had already been stated. I know because I reserved 1/9/2011 and it was expected deliveries in Summer 2012 at that point.

Well, I can tell you that after you made your reservation someone at Tesla told me that I could "probably" expect mine in April of '12, but summer at the latest.

 

[Citizen-T]

Did Elon take the money from that bet he made about deliveries by July?

The bet was that he wouldn't deliver in 2012. Even if you don't count the Founders (and I can think of absolutely no reason you wouldn't count people like Larry Page as customers) he's going to make it.

And as I'm sure someone has already told you, Dan did pay up. Seeing as how he has a Pulitzer prize and years of experience covering the auto industry, I'm going to take his opinion of what counts as a customer over yours.

 

[dmckinstry]

Well, I can tell you that after you made your reservation someone at Tesla told me that I could "probably" expect mine in April of '12, but summer at the latest.

So what? I was told by a Tesla employee (a reliable one IMHO) in May of 2011 that we might get test drives that fall. Turns out it was wishful thinking on his part. I got my test drive about 6 months late. No big deal.