Tesla To Start Pilot Production of Model 3 This Month (reuters.com)

According to Reuters, Tesla is planning to "begin test-building its Model 3 sedans on February 20, a move that could allay concerns about the company meeting its target to start production in July." The sources familiar with the matter did not mention how many of the Model 3 vehicles Tesla aims to build in February, though the number is likely to be small to test the assembly system and the quality of vehicle parts. From the report: Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk last year told investors and more than 370,000 customers who put deposits down for a Model 3 that he intended to start building the cars in July 2017. At the time, many analysts and suppliers said the timeline was too ambitious and would be difficult to achieve, pointing to Tesla's history of missing aggressive production targets. If Tesla succeeds in starting pilot production of the sedan at its factory in Fremont, California on Feb. 20, the company would be able to share the news with shareholders two days later when it reports fourth-quarter results and better answer any questions about the Model 3 rollout. Musk had told investors last year that the company could miss the July 2017 startup target if suppliers do not meet deadlines.

Comments

Re: The old adage

[Anonymous Coward]

This is true, and Tesla is not one of them. Tesla has one of the highest recall rates of any manufacturer. If you read their earning reports, recalls are one of the biggest obstacles to sustainability of the company over all. Yes, they have so many recalls and spend so much on them that they might actually put the company out of business.

Re:It was announced too early

[ranton]

What political reasons?
(I'm not being facetious, I'd really rather like to know)

There have been a few people, possibly less than 10 from what I can tell from multiple news sources, who have cancelled their orders because Musk accepted a position on Trump's economic advisory council.

I think Trump is bad enough to disregard Godwin's Law, but I still want competent business leaders to keep a line of communication open with the man. Criticizing Musk for trying to advise Trump is a Tea Party level of insanity. Then again the Tea Party has sadly had a lot of success, so maybe liberals need to stop relying on only rational responses.

Re: The old adage

[ranton]

Tesla has one of the highest recall rates of any manufacturer.

That doesn't seem to be true. Through September 2016 Telsa has averaged 936 total recalls per 1,000 vehicles. Porche was the best manufacturer with only 531 recalls, and Volkswagan was the worst with 1805. Of the 18 manfucturers listed in my link, they averaged 1072 recalls, or about 15% higher than Tesla. Toyota for instance had 10% more recalls than Tesla (per car sold) and Ford had 22% more.

Even though Tesla is only a 10 year old car company, their recall rates are better than companies that have been doing this for 100 years.