Tesla Model 3

[Fat Charlie]

It does. But Tesla's redesign has always been the creation of an entire new platform. I doubt they have a different development team for each different platform. Roadster, S, X, 3, new Roadster... time for new S and new X before the polish wears off the 3.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

It does. But Tesla's redesign has always been the creation of an entire new platform. I doubt they have a different development team for each different platform. Roadster, S, X, 3, new Roadster... time for new S and new X before the polish wears off the 3.

Tesla has never done a model refresh or redesign. They are still building out their base offerings.

Per industry standards the S should have been redesigned in 2017 and the X is due in 2020. It would make a whole lot of sense to redesign them together and put them on the same platform. They should be sharing way more part content.

That said with the New Roadster, Y, and Semi I doubt they have the resources to release a new S and X in the next few years.

[RedDevil]

The Y is a 3 for the most part. The Semi is a completely new development away from the car business (though it does use Model 3 motors and probably electronics and cells). The Roadster could well share a platform with the new S and X.
I don't see too much complexity in that.

Besides, the industry typically develops and releases several models per year, why could Tesla not do so? Tesla grows...

[JSH]

Originally Posted by RedDevil

The Y is a 3 for the most part. The Semi is a completely new development away from the car business (though it does use Model 3 motors and probably electronics and cells). The Roadster could well share a platform with the new S and X.
I don't see too much complexity in that.

Besides, the industry typically develops and releases several models per year, why could Tesla not do so? Tesla grows...

Every new model takes time and money. Every engineer working an the Semi is an engineer not working on a new S. Every dollar spent on a halo Roadster is a dollar not spent on the bread and butter Model S.

Yes, Tesla could be run like a normal car company if it had a CEO that knew how to make cars and didn’t have to worry about cash flow. It takes money to grow and Tesla doesn’t have money.

[NeilBlanchard]

Tesla is not doing things like most other car makers. They use the actual year a car is manufactured - for its model year. They have improved / fixed things as needed; not waiting for the "next model year".

It is unlikely that they will make wholesale changes - making a design change for the sake of change - is exactly what they WON'T do.

I hope that other car makers will follow the principles that Tesla has. Aerodynamics should drive the design - not stylists.

Who will build a car as efficient as the EV1? We need better cars; not just different ones.

[redpoint5]

I do like that Tesla challenges many of the traditional ways of doing things, from direct sales, to cutting out haggling/commission, mobile repair, elimination of most sales kiosks (online ordering), etc, etc.

Some of the ideas are sure to be a flop, but you don't improve something if you're not trying, failing, and adjusting.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

They use the actual year a car is manufactured - for its model year.

Interesting! Didn't know that.



So, not like the '2015' Micra that went on sale in Canada in April 2014?

[Xist]

I am sure there are many improvements to the way corporations have made cars for a hundred years. I absolutely do not believe in doing anything just because everybody else does it that way. However, that still seems like a good place to start, just ask yourself at every step "Is there a more effective way?"

[redpoint5]

Musk found this out firsthand when he admitted that he had over-automated some things that still are best done by manual labor. Creative solutions aren't necessarily better, and usually worse.

This underlines the importance of the conservative vs liberal balance. The conservative approach gets things done the way we already know how to get things done. Liberal ideas propose better ways to do things, or adapt to changing circumstances. Most new ideas are terrible and fail, but usually that's what is necessary to figure out what works best. Once a new way is proved to be best, it's adopted by the conservatives and becomes THE way to do things... until something better comes along.

[freebeard]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Interesting! Didn't know that.

There was a manufacturer in the 1930s that adopted that principle, took more than a decade to introduce a new model, and started with a marketing scheme (literally) to collect stamps in a booklet toward ownership.