Tesla Shipping Cars

[zete]

This post from Tesla's CEO shows me partially wrong as Tesla is shipping cars.

You know of course the saying “Good things are worth waiting for” … undoubtedly we were trying the truism of this adage longer than warranted, but we have broken the logjam. We are delivering the Roadster to our customers. Already 9 production Roadsters have arrived in California, another 3 arrive this weekend, and they will keep arriving at the rate of 4 per week (except for the scheduled factory shut down in the last two weeks of August). In fact, currently there are 27 Roadsters in various stages of assembly. In large measure we deliberately limit the production until we install our own born and bred final transmission by mid-September, at which time production will start to ramp up leading toward a monthly rate of over 100 cars in December.

More at link: Update on Production.

Of course they say they won't be ramped up to 100 cars per month until December, which means they have no way of delivering this year's or next year's cars on time. They need to get the build numbers up. Up to 200 or more if they're going to meet their existing sales and projected sales numbers for this year and next.

But the cars are being built. And they recently hired a senior executive from Chrysler to help run the place so I may be even more wrong, but gladly so. Hopefully the price of the new Whitestar will be reasonable and the car practical.

[ChevroletRevived]

Woot! Way to go Tesla. It should be interesting to see how things play out with the more mainstream Model S "Whitestar" built right here in CA.

[zete]

Where's mgescuro telling me "I told you so"?

Sheesh. I'd have thought he'd be all over me by now .

But I'm happy things are rolling. I remain worried long term, but each step forward is good. Here's to hoping the investors take the long view.

[emh]

Thanks for the pointer to the update.

Admitting mistakes is a rare thing on message boards...

[tholland]

Here's a interesting article I read the other day... some good insight into the company to date. Sorry if it's a repost.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/10/tech...tune/index.htm

[agent.theory]

Sure, they're shipping cars, but three or four cars a month is not going to support the company, or build a customer base. If they can ramp up to 200+ a month, then they might become a real player.

But the larger issue is the quality of the car itself. Basically, they redesigned an electric drag-racer to make it street legal. However, they did no real longevity or adverse conditions testing. A few runs down a drag strip is radically different than real-world driving. Nobody knows how long the battery will last. 10,000 miles? 50,000? I doubt it will go 100,000. How is the car in cold weather? How rugged is the chassis?

If the whitestar (or whatever) sedan is going to have any impact at all on the car market, it will need to function well in diverse climates, be reliable, and last a while. The Chevy Volt would be a much more practical choice for the vast majority of buyers.

[mgescuro]

Originally Posted by zete

Where's mgescuro telling me "I told you so"?
Sheesh. I'd have thought he'd be all over me by now .

Oh I'm here... sneering quietly....

I believe the word I used in the last Tesla thread was "Jaded?"

Originally Posted by zete

But I'm happy things are rolling. I remain worried long term, but each step forward is good. Here's to hoping the investors take the long view.

"Long term" is the only way to think about Tesla at this point.

[regfootball]

well, those 27 cars will save the world from global warming.

[zete]

Originally Posted by mgescuro

Oh I'm here... sneering quietly....

I believe the word I used in the last Tesla thread was "Jaded?"


"Long term" is the only way to think about Tesla at this point.

I remain jaded . Until they ramp up to 200 or so they won't get the existing customers their cars. At 100 they'll never catch up. A bright point is the hiring of a car guy from Chrysler, which is a solid good move.

And now we wait. You sneering happily at my jaded self .

[johnstarnes]

Originally Posted by emh

Thanks for the pointer to the update.

Admitting mistakes is a rare thing on message boards...

Agreed...but Zete strikes me as an uncommonly bright and decent fellow who brings cool decorum and a level head to this forum.

[johnstarnes]

I very much look forward to seeing the Whitestar.

[tholland]

I hope Tesla has some measure of success because they are putting themselves out on a limb and pushing the issue of electric vehicles. Sure, there's very little new regarding technology or engineering and using laptop Li-Ion chemistry is a bit suspect (my laptop battery having just died, lol)... but the concept of the roadster is very appealing. I hope GM makes a performance version of E-flex not too far out of the gate.

[Butz]

Thanks for the heads up and update. I'm glad things are progressing for Tesla.