So far Tesla Motors has defied the odds, which are stacked against any new entries in the automotive space. Last month, the company’s Model S sedan was delivered ahead of schedule. The Model S was independently developed by Tesla from scratch over a space of three years. This was the culmination of a design, development and marketing plan executed nearly flawlessly over the past few years.
Tesla announced it expects to deliver 5,000 Model S sedans by the end of the year. So far though, production hasn’t ramped up as fast as most analysts are comfortable with. According to them though, Tesla wasn’t even supposed to exist right now anyway – shows what they know.
To illustrate the company’s commitment to quality, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk inspects cars himself, according to an interview with PlugInCars. At Tesla quality is placed at a premium. Rival Fisker (who we do love as well, by the way) experienced a lot of delays and also significant quality niggles with the Karma sedan. So far Tesla has avoided both. However, as a public company right now it is put between a rock and a hard place.
The stock market expects companies to deliver on their statements, and will be punishing when they don’t live up. As such, the company’s Freemont, California plant is working on Model S’ sedans at a slow place. Right now, just 10 cars are being produced per week. Given this, the third quarter production number has been cut from 1,000 to 500. Musk says the only number they are focused on is 5,000 by the end of they year though – after this initial period production will begin to ramp up very quickly. At full tilt production the Model S would be sold out for a year, and new orders roll in every day. Some analysts say ramp up production faster. We say be quiet and let Musk and Company do their job. So far Tesla has disregarded what others have had to say, being run the way Musk sees fit. Why change now?
