White/White Model 3 in the wild

[MP3Mike]

Tesla supplier Futuris Automotive inks big lease in Newark

So you are saying that there is no chance Tesla changed suppliers or brought seat manufacturing in-house since 2014?

 

[tracksyde]

So you are saying that there is no chance Tesla changed suppliers or brought seat manufacturing in-house since 2014?

Here's a Tesla job posting for "Production Associate, Seat Manufacturing".

The job responsibilities only talk about "seat assembly" though.

Production Associate, Seat Manufacturing | Tesla | Tesla

The Role

The Production Associate will report to the Production Supervisor and will be responsible for performing seat assembly. This person is expected to be able to execute against the provided manufacturing instructions, validate their own work, check the quality of previous operations, and meet the output requirement. Experience with small hand tools a must with some experience using semi-automated equipment highly desirable.

There are some posts scattered around TMC that say Futuris moved manufacturing into the Tesla factory. There was also an article that said Tesla in-sourced seat manufacturing (although I think that could be confused with moving the manufacturer 'in-house' too). And there's talk on the X side of the house that the "next gen seats" are made by Recaro.

Actually, looking around some more.. there are a lot of new, recent job openings with regard to trim and seats (both of which are services provided by Futuris)

Tesla Seat assembly Jobs | Glassdoor

1 in Seat Assembly
3 in Seat Manufacturing
1 Trim Engineer
1 Supplier Industrialization Engineer - Seats

The oldest one being 25 days old

 

[gregincal]

Regardless of whose making them, obviously they need to make some white Model 3 seats before they start mass producing them (they aren't going to just wake up in October and say "gee, we need to try out that white stuff"). We have no idea who has the white interior car (assuming it's not a test car), except that they are an employee or board member. I can easily see some executive saying to Musk "Look, I'm going to want the white interior anyway, and we have some test seats built. If we put them in my car we get some additional testing on them and some free publicity when people see them."

 

[Zaphod]

Here's a Tesla job posting for "Production Associate, Seat Manufacturing".

The job responsibilities only talk about "seat assembly" though.

Production Associate, Seat Manufacturing | Tesla | Tesla



There are some posts scattered around TMC that say Futuris moved manufacturing into the Tesla factory. There was also an article that said Tesla in-sourced seat manufacturing (although I think that could be confused with moving the manufacturer 'in-house' too). And there's talk on the X side of the house that the "next gen seats" are made by Recaro.

Actually, looking around some more.. there are a lot of new, recent job openings with regard to trim and seats (both of which are services provided by Futuris)

Tesla Seat assembly Jobs | Glassdoor

1 in Seat Assembly
3 in Seat Manufacturing
1 Trim Engineer
1 Supplier Industrialization Engineer - Seats

The oldest one being 25 days old

Next-gen seats were never in the X, only the S. The X only has/had "premium" seats which are essentially the same as what the S now has.

Bottom line is that Tesla's seat names and who may or may not manufacture them are confusing at best over the years.

 

[Barklikeadog]

I saw a white/unknown driving at king of prussia mall(PA) today. 1st time in person.
Looked bigger and dome-ier than expected. Definitely not a fan of the front end/nose of the car.
I guess it just seems kinda plain, wish it had more detail to break up the white.

 

[Garlan Garner]

More in the wild... btw the seatbacks look like they have a different color than white...

[pics from instagram]

View attachment 241551 View attachment 241552 View attachment 241553

Are those 19" wheels?

 

[tracksyde]

Are those 19" wheels?

Yes

 

[Garlan Garner]

Yes

Thanks.

Wow, they look small.

 

[tracksyde]

Yeah.. they dont look nearly as "fitted" as 21s do on a Model S.. and if you look at Model S's with 22s (as I was just doing).. then come back and look at a Model 3 with 19s.. they look even smaller

 

[Garlan Garner]

Yeah.. they dont look nearly as "fitted" as 21s do on a Model S.. and if you look at Model S's with 22s (as I was just doing).. then come back and look at a Model 3 with 19s.. they look even smaller

I wonder of 21"s will fit on the Model 3.

I wonder if 21's will look good on the Model 3.

I would love to keep the stance of the Model 3 which would mean I would need some pretty thin rubber on 21's. Right?

 

[tracksyde]

I wonder of 21"s will fit on the Model 3.

I wonder if 21's will look good on the Model 3.

I would love to keep the stance of the Model 3 which would mean I would need some pretty thin rubber on 21's. Right?

On a 21, looks like you'd have to go slightly wider, but you'd be really close to stock circumference with a 245/30/21. Yeah, that's pretty thin, about ~73.5mm of sidewall (245 x 0.30) vs the stock 18 tire size of 235/40/18 with a ~94mm sidewall.

I think 20s would work well on the Model 3.. like 21s on a S

Always, to bring this thread back on topic, did we all receive the lastest Tesla newsletter? It mentions a new cream interior color. I hope the 3 is more white than cream.

 

[Garlan Garner]

On a 21, looks like you'd have to go slightly wider, but you'd be really close to stock circumference with a 245/30/21. Yeah, that's pretty thin, about ~73.5mm of sidewall (245 x 0.30) vs the stock 18 tire size of 235/40/18 with a ~94mm sidewall.

I think 20s would work well on the Model 3.. like 21s on a S

Always, to bring this thread back on topic, did we all receive the lastest Tesla newsletter? It mentions a new cream interior color. I hope the 3 is more white than cream.

I hope so too.....All of the production pictures look like white seats.