Originally published on EV Obsession.
The design of the Tesla Model 3 will be finalized within just 6 weeks according to the company’s CEO, Elon Musk. Elon made the new design finalization projection at the recent 2016 Code Conference in California.
The news isn’t very surprising, though, as Musk has made similar predictions a number of times now — most recently on the most recent Tesla conference call, when he also stated a prediction of ~6 weeks.
Tesla Model 3 on the test track on unveiling night in Hawthorne, California. Photo by Kyle Field for CleanTechnica & EV Obsession.
In an interesting and telling nod to cramming too many new features into the long-delayed Model X, Musk noted that any new ideas after the 6 week deadline would simply be tabled until future versions of the Model 3 came out.
“Almost all of the Model 3 design is done, and we’re aiming for pencils down basically in six weeks, complete pencils down. And we’re tabling — you know, if there are ideas for future cool things, we’ll have it in version 2, version 3.”
Gas 2 provides more:
The reference to versions 2 and 3 goes along with his words at the Tesla annual meeting earlier this week. There, he took to the podium to admit the company had crammed too much new technology into the Model X too soon. He put much of the blame on himself, using the word “hubris” several times. It would have been smarter to roll out a version 1 of the company’s SUV and then add improvements later, he said.
The best example is the Model S. It was on sale for two years before the hardware for its Autopilot suite of self driving features was added for customers. It was another year before the software to make all that hardware functional was made available to customers. Musk has said repeatedly that the Model S and Model X were designed first, then made production capable. He insists the company has learned from its mistakes and that the Model 3 was designed first and foremost for ease of production.
Which bodes well for the company’s goal of producing at least 100,000 Model 3s next year. With so many people around the world waiting impatiently for the Model 3 release, here’s to hoping that the company meets its goals.
At the recent Code Conference, Musk also noted that another large Model 3 “event” was going to take place before the end of the year. Presumably the comment was in reference to “Part 2” of the reveal — when the rumored HUD display may be presented, along with possible advances in the company’s autonomous driving technology, amongst other possibilities.
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