Tesla vehicles are notoriously known for their quality control issues, and what does company CEO Elon Musk have to say about it? “Either buy it right at the beginning or when production reaches a steady state,” he was quoted when responding to vehicle engineering consultant Sandy Munro, Autocar reports.
That’s a rather peculiar piece of advice, coming from the CEO of a high value car company himself. “During that production ramp-up it’s super hard to be in vertical climb mode and get everything right on all the little details. So if you really want things to be dialled, it’s either very early cars or once production has levelled off. That’s when things are going to be the best,” Musk said.
Most common customer complaints include inferior paint quality, irregular panel gaps, and water ingress. In response to this, Musk said: “We did improve our gap and paint quality towards the end of last year – even during the course of December. We were able to focus on it and improve it to a great deal.”
Regarding the paint issue, the problem was that the paint did not get enough time to dry because the production line was moving too quickly. Any cars built during these ramp-up periods were more prone to have issues, Musk noted. “Production is hell. Of any American start-up car company, I think Tesla is the first to achieve volume production in 100 years, basically.”
“So prototypes are, relatively speaking, easy and fun, but reaching volume production with reliable parts and at an affordable price is excruciatingly difficult,” he added. Tesla sped up car production in 2020 in hopes of achieving its target of 500,000 units, but the automaker narrowly missed the mark – it was just shy of 450 cars.
Besides paint and panel gap issues, Tesla again made headlines last year when it announced a recall for more than 130,000 Model X and Model S over an electrical issue, the failure of which could lead to the loss of several key vehicle functions.
Tesla is reportedly ramping up production of the Model Y in the US, before focusing on three other high-profile launches this year – the Semi lorry, Roadster sports car, and controversial Cybertruck.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
Wow, that’s a very peculiar piece of advice indeed XD
Contrary to popular belief, Proton buyers skipped the very 1st batch cars. Not sure how true
The first 10,000 disagrees tho.
Do they have power windows issues?
Jepunis should learn how to build car like this
Oh really? Then what about the poor QC when Tesla was starting up and there were no market pressure for deliveries yet? I wonder if NASA could accept the reason for recent SpaceX spate of failures were caused by production ramp up? Elon should rethink his excuses.
spoken like a rocket scientist
“Please do not put the blame on Proton, Proton makes 700 cars per day, that’s 1 car every 98 seconds, we do not have the time to check on Proton parts.” – Proton 2005
So if a billionaire could find that excuse reasonable, I guess proton wasnt wrong after all.
Somebody wants to bump up looooonnnnggggggg ago story, oh why
Tesla is able to be taiko in EV is because it is playing in a field where all others not feel good with. But things change and these shitty field is gaining traction and tesla already master some of the rules. Fairly speak, if not for USA gov bail, Tesla is already dead long ago during their lotus EV. The USA gov pump cash to let it survive. In open free market, Tesla will perish in those non demand environment. So, the other big and taiko players like BMW, Merc, Toyota etc..now is all pouring into EV due to China push and everyone know China policy is stable and consistent, when they confirm a pplicy, there is no second talk. Tesla is still enjoying the head start but just like rocket the push will eventually reach terminal velocity and others with better quality and identical EV will catch up. Until that happen, Tesla can continue to play dump on their QC and people will still buy for the pioneers feel and also lack of alternative. But time is ticking and all others with experience and capital carmakers are catching up at a fast pace. Good luck Tesla. The future is indeed EV and hybrid is just a forgettable bridge. When all are EV, Tesla woll not be special then.
So Protonish just like in the 90’s.