Elon Musk is, undeniably, a very busy and ambitious man. But, it comes at a cost. In this case, that cost is the reliability of his word when it comes to timetables. It almost seems as if every time we turn around Tesla is missing one of its targets, and now, that’s about to happen again. Not only did Elon Musk tweet that its semi-truck unveiling would be pushed back, but that the Model 3 was “deep in production hell.” You know what that means? It means you’re probably not going to get your Model 3 when the company said you would. When a customer asked Musk if he would get his Model 3 this year, Musk’s reply was a little sketchy: “December will be a big month, so probably, but it is impossible to be certain right now.”

The truth is, Tesla is in some hot water as far as Model 3 production goes. Musk had originally projected that Tesla would produce 1,500 examples of the Model 3 in the third quarter but fell far short, with official numbers stopping at 260. To add to that, of those 260, only 220 of them were actually delivered. Apparently, there is a huge bottleneck happening, with the Wall Street Journal reporting that some parts for the Model 3 were being made by hand back in September. Of course, this isn’t the only thing holding the company back, as Musk now has a deal with Puerto Rico to help bring power back to the island after it was ravaged by mother nature . As such, some sources have also been diverted to increasing Tesla battery production.

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A Long, Bumpy Road with Causes in the Middle

2018 Tesla Model 3 spotted during Monterey Car Week


Now, as I mentioned before, Tesla is known for showing up late to the party, but then again, maybe the party is just waiting for Tesla. After all, both the Model S and Model X were delayed beyond expectations, and they have both been fairly successful. But, at the same time, it seems like there’s always something. For now, there is no official word as to whether or not there will be a serious delay for the Model 3, but when you consider Tesla missed its Model 3 production goal of 1,500 examples in the third quarter by 82 percent – let me repeat that – 82 percent, it becomes highly questionable whether or not the brand can hit its long-term production goal of hitting 500,000 examples by the end of 2018, a figure that was originally expected to be attainable by 2020.

So, despite the fact that Musk decided to be his usual ambitious self and pushed his production ramp up, he may end up having to go back on his word yet again. Of course, this comes after Musk managed to suck in more than a half million from investors back in August of 2017, and last Friday Tesla stock dropped by nearly a percent, so one has to wonder what the future may hold for the Model 3 and just how bad this “bottleneck” in production really is. Of course, this time, there’s at least one decent reason for a delay – Musk is diverting resources to help cover battery production as he attempts to help Puerto Rico with their unfortunate battery problem. So, this time around there’s at least a decent cause in the works, and you can’t really be mad about that. The people of Puerto Rico need as much help as they can get at this point. But, be that as it may, it could just be an excuse to help cover Musk’s ass as well. After all, the man doesn’t know how to keep a timetable, that’s for sure.


Is Musk doing the right thing with Puerto Rico or is he taking advantage of the situation and looking for some easy money and good PR? Is Musk slave driving and forcing folks to do things by hand as sold by the Wall Street Journal or is the bottleneck something more simple that we’re not aware of. Is there some shade being cast over the truth to help sugarcoat the reality of the situation with the Model 3? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

References

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