Tesla Addresses Production Delays to Signature Buyers

efusco · Oct 17, 2012

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We have been receiving a lot of very specific questions lately regarding the delivery timing of Signature cars. I have received many inquiries personally, and the Delivery Specialists and Ownership Experience teams are both receiving questions regarding this issue on a daily basis. Given our recently modified 2012 production plan and the information we now have, after several weeks of digging into this issue, I thought it would be helpful to send a personal message to all Signature reservation holders who have not yet received their car to give them an update and explain exactly what is going on.

As you probably know, our initial estimate of 5,000 cars by the end of 2012 has been re-estimated to between 2,500 and 3,000 cars. This change was announced several weeks ago and is the result of several factors, including a number of global supplier issues and our own in-house quality expectations. This change does not impact the number of Signature cars that will be built, and we will still produce cars in "series order" as originally planned. This means we will still produce Model S Signature cars first, then move to General Production cars.

The primary impact of this revised production ramp is that early Model S deliveries have been moved out approximately 4 to 6 weeks. For some of you, this change means that the estimated delivery date on your order paperwork has now passed, and you may have had the delivery date of your Model S scheduled and then re-scheduled to a later date. This is very unfortunate and is not something we are happy about or taking lightly. I apologize for this inconvenience. We are now actively resolving the issues that have caused delays, and over the next few weeks you will see a substantial improvement in the accuracy of our projected delivery dates. We know what needs to be done, and we appreciate the patience you have shown as we work through these early-stage growing pains.

There is another issue I'd also like to address briefly that has hit my inbox a few times recently and has surfaced on a few forums. The issue surrounds the sequence in which we are building and delivering Model S. This is an issue we take very seriously. Many Model S reservation holders I have met during the past two years actually introduce themselves by name and then follow their introduction by giving me their Model S Reservation Sequence Number. Their sequence number is something that is very important to them, and is very important to us. That being said, let me explain what has happened during the first three months of production and what is happening now.

We have been working very hard to build cars in the perfect sequence order while managing our way through a few supplier quality issues and a few key vendor delays. As you may recall, we had quality issues early on with Banana Leaf décor, and moved away from that option to Obeche Wood Matte. Shortly thereafter we added Obeche Wood Gloss to the list of available decors and made a few changes to the Performance Model exterior. All these changes impacted the sequence in which we could send orders to the factory. Another variable that impacts delivery is the length of time customers take to finalize their configuration. Some customers decide on options and sign their paperwork within 24 hours after receiving the invitation to configure. Others take a month or more to finalize paperwork. While this may not affect your delivery timing, it is a variable that has impacted others.

As much as we tried to juggle all the changes with the move away from Banana Leaf, the addition of Obeche Wood Matte, then the addition of Obeche Wood Gloss, and making changes to the Performance Model, we still needed to send orders to the factory every week. In some weeks it meant we had to reach forward in the sequence order to find cars that were not impacted by a particular décor or option, and in some cases the absence of a particular décor or option pushed cars back. We also had to work with how long it took some customers to configure their car. So what does all this mean? It means that when all is said and done, there will be about 26 Model S Signature cars that are built earlier than they should have been (most of which have already been delivered), and about 28 will have been built later than they should have been (all of which are now under a microscope everyday to make sure they get through production immediately and have delivery expedited). I wish we could have provided a more seamless experience, but we tried our best to prioritize weekly production orders while taking into account the quality we insisted upon, the parts we had, and the all-important sequence number.

With all this now taken into account, what should you be expecting next? For most of you (some of you are already beyond this point), two things will be happening very soon. You will be receiving an email to start prepping for your delivery, and you will be receiving a revised target delivery date from the Delivery Experience Team. The email will ask a few questions about where you would like to take delivery, if you plan to finance your Model S, if you have a trade-in, and will confirm your registration information. This email will be coming out soon and is the start of your delivery process.

I hope this helps explain a little about what has happened to date, what is going on now, and what you can expect in the near future. I believe our communication to date on this subject has been weak at best. I'm sure for some of you it has been very frustrating as well. Again, I apologize for any frustration this has caused. I firmly believe we have solutions in sight, and going forward, while we will still not be perfect, we will be better because of what we have learned.
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efusco · Oct 17, 2012

I'd sent an email to my delivery specialist this morning asking for an update/phone call to let me know what was going on since I'd heard nothing in the 2 weeks since I last communicated with them by email. Within about 2 minutes of my posting this and the letter going public I did get a call.

He confirmed and reiterated much of what is in George's email. He was unsure if my car would be delayed beyond the previous window I'd been given (first 2 weeks of November)--but I suspect it will be based upon the delays mentioned in the email. He was apologetic for Tesla's poor communication (obviously made a key talking point). The silence was killing us. This helps to at least have the issues somewhat acknowledged. I think we'd all like to know exactly what parts and which suppliers are holding up the show, but so far Tesla's keeping that pretty tightly under wraps.

drinnovation · Nov 3, 2012

efusco said: ↑

I'd sent an email to my delivery specialist this morning asking for an update/phone call to let me know what was going on since I'd heard nothing in the 2 weeks since I last communicated with them by email. Within about 2 minutes of my posting this and the letter going public I did get a call.

He confirmed and reiterated much of what is in George's email. He was unsure if my car would be delayed beyond the previous window I'd been given (first 2 weeks of November)--but I suspect it will be based upon the delays mentioned in the email. He was apologetic for Tesla's poor communication (obviously made a key talking point). The silence was killing us. This helps to at least have the issues somewhat acknowledged. I think we'd all like to know exactly what parts and which suppliers are holding up the show, but so far Tesla's keeping that pretty tightly under wraps.
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It must be tough waiting.. The delays are not really what would bother me.. its the lack of communication.
Glad I did not decide to wait (I'd have gone for the 40kWh.. so it now seems likely I would have been pushed back even farther, as the delay is difference between production estimate an reality, its impact is also a function of where in the queue one would be.).

I'm sure you'll let us know when you get it so we can switch from empathy to envy.

efusco · Nov 3, 2012

They've improved communication somewhat, but still some lack of specifics. But our best estimates are that my car probably entered production this week and all the Sigs were in production by Monday last week. Couple weeks for production, then some shipping time and I'm hoping for late Nov. early Dec. delivery. Monday will be 2 weeks since my last contact with my delivery rep and I'll send another email to see if I can get a VIN or at least an update.

Rebound · Nov 6, 2012

efusco said: ↑

Couple weeks for production, then some shipping time and I'm hoping for late Nov. early Dec. delivery. Monday will be 2 weeks since my last contact with my delivery rep and I'll send another email to see if I can get a VIN or at least an update.
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Well, at least you aren't dealing with the insanity of tracking your cargo ship out of port and through the Panama Canal.

Tesla Addresses Production Delays to Signature Buyers

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Tesla Addresses Production Delays to Signature Buyers

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