Will Tesla Open Online Design Studio For Model 3 Reservation Holders In June?
Will Tesla open the online design studio for Model 3 reservation holders (at least some of them) in June? In July? When will the company do so?
On the recent 4th quarter Q&A conference call, Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated that the Model 3 online design studio would go live shortly before the model officially goes on sale. Presumably, that means somewhat before July, when production is expected to begin. Though, the exact dates are of course impossible to know at this point.
Elon’s words in response to this topic were: “I think it’s probably 3 to 4 months away.”
Also notable was that Elon Musk stated that first deliveries would be of “Founders Series” Model 3s — which will be going to company employees, in order to quickly and probably more quietly receive feedback before mass deliveries to non-employee customers begin.
In this case, Elon’s exact words were: “It’s good to have a feedback loop before customers experience them.”
Regular contributor Kyle Field provides more (via Teslarati):
“The next phase of Model 3 deliveries would go to West Coast Tesla owners, with an emphasis on those living closer to the Fremont factory, followed by further geographical expansion.
“Getting the vehicle into the hands of Tesla employees and existing owners not only rewards those who have helped the company achieve its rise to success, but also serves as a means to tap into a team of people that are already familiar with the brand, and have a vested interest in seeing the brand succeed. This core group will be more tolerant of any early bugs in the product while also being able to provide more concise feedback to the Tesla team. Ensuring a short feedback loop will help Tesla finetune the productions lines as they ramp up to full volume production in 2018.”
Good points. It’s probably better from the perspective of a consumer goods launch to start things off with those already “on your side” — and thus generate a lot of positive buzz — rather than go straight into the general marketplace.
As we reported previously, Tesla’s current plans call for initial Model 3 production of around 1,000 units a week to begin in July, followed by a ramp up to around 5,000 units a week in September. The eventual long-term goal is to hit 10,000 units a week sometime in 2018.
Photo by Kyle Field | CleanTechnica
Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Latest CleanTechnica.TV Video
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.
