Now that Tesla is slowly easing itself out of the ‘production hell’ it faced with the manufacture of the Model 3, company CEO Elon Musk had recently tweeted that the electric car maker is in ‘delivery logistics hell’, a situation brought about by a severe shortage of car transporters.
In order to tackle the “extreme shortage of car carrier trailers”, Tesla has started to construct car carriers itself, according to Autocar, as part of the company’s logistics systems upgrade. This stems from great demand for the Model 3, which was reported to have sold over 17,800 units in August alone.
Also aiding in the process is the decision to streamline production, particularly with paint selection where black and silver are now only available at a cost, in order to drive demand towards a narrower range of colours. Musk clarified that this would not affect availability at Tesla’s repair centres, the report said.
Apologies, we’re upgrading our logistics system, but running into an extreme shortage of car carrier trailers. Started building our own car carriers this weekend to alleviate load.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 24, 2018
Musk previously indicated on Twitter that there will be a risk of delayed deliveries with the increased volume of cars requiring delivery, and although he claims that the delivery issues should be resolved shortly and that the company is making rapid progress in surmounting the challenge, the CEO has not put the latter into numbers.
The all-electric Tesla Model 3 is priced from US$35,000 (RM144,931) in the United States, with a battery range of 354 km. Performance figures include a 0-100 km/h time of 5.6 seconds and a top speed of 209 km/h, while a further US$9,000 buys extra range for a total of 499 km, a 0-100 km/h sprint in 5.1 seconds and a top speed of 225 km/h.
An even higher-performance, dual-motor AWD version offers a top speed of 250 km/h, 500 km range and is capable of 0-96 km/h in 3.5 seconds, which will set the customer back US$78,000 (RM322,988).
GALLERY: Tesla Model 3
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
No car carriers? In USA where cars are an important industry? This sounds more like a convenient excuse for their production & quality bottlenecks they’ve been facing. Perhaps buyers near their factory should call their bluff by offering to collect their new cars from the plant.