Garlan Garner
Banned
I like the cars that I've seen so far. Most of them seem to be built well....even by hand.
Tesla has already built many Model 3's by hand. Elon just quoted that the 1st car will be produced Friday.
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Tesla has already built many Model 3's by hand. Elon just quoted that the 1st car will be produced Friday.
Waiting4M3
Active Member
I can certainly see Tesla letting reviewers take a RC for a few laps, but I don't see them give a M3 to a review to take home in July, something like Car and Driver's long term 40K mile review.
Garlan Garner
Banned
Waiting4M3
Active Member
Purchased cars should all be productions cars.
Production cars are not all delivered to customers, some are loaners at service center, some are for test drives at the Tesla stores, some are sent out to reviews.
Cars sent out to review also do not all need to be production cars, people send out pre-production cars for review purposes all the time. My point is that the July production should all go to customers, not to reviews, test drives, or loaners.
Garlan Garner
Banned
They finished the RC endeavor right? Its a proven car. It passed everything. No more testing is necessary. It works.....and if it does not ...don't produce any until its ready. That statement by Elon that it passes everything is huge.
Loan them out or Test drive them. It doesn't matter. Tesla is out of the RC phase. My point is this. Production cars are public cars. No more secrets or hidden features. Its a production car now.
Its now official that Tesla has 4 different Models of cars.
BluestarE3
Active Member
Remember the video from 2012 of the first Model S hand-overs? They went to VIPs, but the event was held on the factory floor and the event was attended primarily by the factory and other Tesla employees. They designed and built the cars, but for the most part, they couldn't afford to buy the car for themselves. This time, I suspect the majority of those 30 Model 3s will be going to employees as their own cars. They designed it, they built it and now they can own it. What a great feeling of recognition and reward for the employee-owners and what great PR for the car and company! It's an aspirational, futuristic and beautiful car that regular folks (like the factory workers) can buy for themselves.
I have mixed emotions. I love that we are now out of the RC phase, and production is ready to begin. That is really exciting.
OTOH .... I really need more than 215 mile range. Electric had made a pretty good argument that the range would be 300 miles.
Hopefully, before my number comes up (projected to be January 2019) problems will have been revealed and solved .... and range will be extended.
Fortunately, I am in no rush. I can wait.
OTOH .... I really need more than 215 mile range. Electric had made a pretty good argument that the range would be 300 miles.
Hopefully, before my number comes up (projected to be January 2019) problems will have been revealed and solved .... and range will be extended.
Fortunately, I am in no rush. I can wait.
K-MTG
Sunshade Captain of TMC
With the Model X they let press test out the vehicle during the morning of the reveal but they weren't allowed to post their short review/test drive until the reveal was over
SageBrush
REJECT Fascism
I was thinking 48 hours or so, but I don't really know how long a car is given for an in-depth review.
BluestarE3
Active Member
Due to different battery sizes. Get the higher capacity size if you need the additional range. Rumor has it the larger will be offered first.
All I know is that I have my tour of the factory on FRIDAY. Maybe I can at least sit in one while i'm there......
Probably can't get in it, but there is one on display at the beginning of the tour next to the prototypes of the S and Roadster I believe.
They could be. I remember watching Video: National Geographic's 'Ultimate Factories' goes inside Chevy Volt production on TV showing pre-production Chevy Volts being produced. It was a very labor intensive and slow process to fabbricate some of the parts. I remember they had a guy using tools to manually fold over the metal at the edges of some panel or door after very low volume stamping. Go to 1:53 of the video below.
I still might have a recording lying around. I posted briefly about it in 2010 at Ultimate Factories - marathon of car related eps coming up.
It's unfortunately only available for a fee on YouTube (
(FWIW, I've taken tours of auto plants of at least 7 different automakers (3 in Japan, 2 in the US, 2 in Germany), including NUMMI when it was still NUMMI. I've definitely never witnessed pre-production assembly work though.)
Side note: While doing some more digging, I stumbled across GM versus Tesla: Pre-Production Comparison for Meeting Model 3 Deliveries At 2017's End from 6 months ago, which apparently has been discussed here on TMC before.
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The Ultimate Factories ep on pre-production process for Chevy Volt is also up on Vudu VUDU - Watch Movies, but also pay per episode.
I did find
which appears to be the same show but w/Spanish narration instead. I suppose one could turn on auto-generated subtitles via the gear and turn on auto-translate to English for an idea of what they're talking about.
What I'm alluding to is that given the slow initial Model 3 pace, what Tesla may be shipping to customers (or producing a bunch vehicles for further testing interspersed w/them) might be "hand made" or at a pace and/or process not that unlike GM's pre-production process.
I did find
What I'm alluding to is that given the slow initial Model 3 pace, what Tesla may be shipping to customers (or producing a bunch vehicles for further testing interspersed w/them) might be "hand made" or at a pace and/or process not that unlike GM's pre-production process.
I've been thinking about the first production vehicles going to employees.
That is a great idea. Benefits the employee as already discussed. Possibly at a reduced price as well.
But the practice is one more step in the refinement process. Employee families will test the vehicles completely different than test drivers of RC cars. And, when defects are revealed, they will have the vehicles immediately at hand to evaluate, find solutions and fix.
As a future owner (hopefully) I really like the idea of "real-world testing" and adjusting. Families, and the wear and tear they will be subjected too .... will be unlike driving RC's around city streets.
That is a great idea. Benefits the employee as already discussed. Possibly at a reduced price as well.
But the practice is one more step in the refinement process. Employee families will test the vehicles completely different than test drivers of RC cars. And, when defects are revealed, they will have the vehicles immediately at hand to evaluate, find solutions and fix.
As a future owner (hopefully) I really like the idea of "real-world testing" and adjusting. Families, and the wear and tear they will be subjected too .... will be unlike driving RC's around city streets.
AlanSqB
Dog Chauffeur
"Mom, the door handle just fell off. Did you make this one?" -Tesla kids
Betting that the initial cars "sold" to employees are under a detailed, very specific contract that includes an NDA, and prohibitions on resale. I'm sure Tesla is going to tightly control this first batch, so they can quietly fix the initial issues in a dark corner at Fremont without scrutiny from the Internet.
So, public isn't necessarily public......
But I'd much rather employee Mom's handle fall off and not mine.
And I'm imagining that Tesla would as well. I've convinced myself that is why Tesla is distributing the first new M3's to employees initially.
After his comments on Sunday I think it is going to be a while before any of us outside of California can get our 3. Based on previous comments he made during earnings calls I expected a higher rate of production this year but I understand the real life limitations present. Overall a little bummed and looks like I have another year wait ahead of me.
