{"id":21334,"date":"2017-11-03T17:20:09","date_gmt":"2017-11-03T21:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=21334"},"modified":"2017-11-03T17:20:09","modified_gmt":"2017-11-03T21:20:09","slug":"payne-still-waiting-for-my-tesla-model-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2017\/11\/payne-still-waiting-for-my-tesla-model-3","title":{"rendered":"Payne: Still waiting for my Tesla Model 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"With<\/p>\n<\/div>

With the launch of its highly anticipated Model 3 in \u201cproduction Hell\u201d \u2014 to quote CEO Elon Musk \u2014\u00a0Tesla reported a record quarterly loss<\/a>\u00a0Wednesday of $619 million.<\/p>\n

Right on cue, Model 3 customers like me got an email three hours later.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you again for your Model 3 reservation,\u201d read the missive from Telsa\u2019s Palo Alto headquarters. \u201cWe\u2019re making significant progress clearing early production bottlenecks but, as we continue to work through them, your estimated delivery timing will now be slightly later than we originally expected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Checking my account at Tesla.com, delivery for my sedan, with 310-mile range and an estimated 5.1-second 0-60 sprint, has been delayed a month \u2014 from February-April of next year to March-May. Customers ordering models with 220 miles of range and all-wheel drive will wait even longer. Orders are filled based on when $1,000 deposits were received (in my case, April 2016), with priority given to Tesla employees and repeat customers.<\/p>\n

Two pals in the Detroit area, both longtime owners of Tesla Model S sedans with delivery dates ahead of mine, got similar notices with similar delays.<\/p>\n

Tesla\u2019s charismatic founder, has always made grand claims about his products that often are followed by readjustments for reality. For example, Tesla\u2019s most recent model,\u00a0the stunning, falcon-door Model X crossover<\/a>, was promised for delivery in late 2013 \u2014 but didn\u2019t arrive in driveways until nearly two years later. Now in full production, the $80,000 electric ute is selling at about 2,000 units a month \u2014 or just below Model S sales (one of America\u2019s top-selling large luxury sedans) at 2,400 units.<\/p>\n

Musk predicted that the compact Model 3 \u2014 the luxury maker\u2019s first chariot under $40,000 (my big-battery version will retail at $49,000) \u2014 would deliver 5,000 units per week by December as the company ramped up to make good on an unprecedented 450,000 pre-orders. That prediction got a bucket of cold water when Tesla moved that production goal to possibly March. Tesla only produced 260 cars by September, well shy of its target of 1,600.<\/p>\n

This week\u2019s announcement of delays was expected, even if the size of the loss was not.<\/p>\n

Musk has long predicted \u201cproduction Hell\u201d for the company\u2019s key, volume model, but the delays have raised concerns that customers will flee to other brands like Chevrolet\u2019s Bolt EV that promise similar performance to the Model 3, but without the production headaches.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cModel 3 reservation holders may not be thrilled about the fact that they have to wait longer than they thought for their vehicle, but it likely won\u2019t cause them to cancel their orders en masse,\u201d Edmunds auto analyst Jessica Caldwell said Wednesday. \u201cMany Model 3 customers put deposits down on the vehicle more than a year ago before they even saw the vehicle, so it\u2019s clear Tesla buyers don\u2019t follow the usual logic-driven car-buying process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guilty as charged. I deposited $1,000 on the Model 3 fully expecting glitches \u2014 as did my Michigan peers.<\/p>\n

My reasons for buying the Model 3 transcend the simple need for transportation. I suspect buyers of other highly anticipated cars like the Corvette Z06 or Dodge Challenger Hellcat would say the same.<\/p>\n

A hopeless motorhead who likes fast cars, I also looked at buying a ferocious BMW M2. But as Musk has proven with his Model S and Model X, Tesla is a singular, American-made brand \u2014 from its \u201cLudicous\u201d acceleration to tablet-sized console displays. It is a visionary tech company like Apple that has brought fresh eyes to an old market. The Model 3 promises to be fast, beautifully designed, with a unique interior. In short, it\u2019s different.<\/p>\n

There is also the journey. As a startup trying to compete with giants like GM and Honda, Tesla is due for stumbles. Musk, like Henry Ford a century ago (Tesla\u2019s \u201cModel\u201d badging is an intended echo of Ford\u2019s Model Ts and As), is a rare auto pioneer trying to transform an industry. Other automakers openly admire Tesla\u2019s vision \u2014 and the way it has forced them to reimagine their products.<\/p>\n

So I will wait. But others may not.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the launch of its highly anticipated Model 3 in \u201cproduction Hell\u201d \u2014 to quote CEO Elon Musk \u2014\u00a0Tesla reported a record quarterly loss\u00a0Wednesday of $619 million. Right on cue, Model 3 customers like me got an email three hours later. \u201cThank you again for your Model 3 reservation,\u201d read the missive from Telsa\u2019s Palo […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21334"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21334"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21335,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21334\/revisions\/21335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}