tho75109_case18_C191-C215.indd C-192 12/18/18 10:49 AM
C-192 PART 2 Cases in Crafting and Executing Strategy
numbers of units coming off the assembly line had
quality problems involving malfunctioning parts/
components and/or faulty installation issues that
required reworking. A big parking lot just outside the
assembly plant in Fremont, California, was said to be
full of Model 3s awaiting corrective attention; a few
were even being junked because of the high cost of
restoring them to a condition that would pass final
pre-delivery inspection. On February 7, 2018, Musk
reported:
We continue to target weekly Model 3 production rates
of 2,500 by the end of Q1 and 5,000 by the end of Q2.
It is important to note that while these are the levels
we are focused on hitting and we have plans in place to
achieve them, our prior experience on the Model 3 ramp
has demonstrated the difficulty of accurately forecasting
specific production rates at specific points in time. What
we can say with confidence is that we are taking many
actions to systematically address bottlenecks and add
capacity in places like the battery module line where we
have experienced constraints, and these actions should
result in our production rate significantly increasing dur–
ing the rest of Q1 and through Q2.
Despite the delays that we experienced in our pro-
duction ramp, Model 3 net reservations remained stable
in Q4. In recent weeks, they have continued to grow as
Model 3 has arrived in select Tesla stores and received
numerous positive reviews, including Automobile maga-
zine’s 2018 Design of the Year award.3
A week or so later, Tesla shut down the Model 3
assembly line for four days to address some of the
assembly problems being encountered. Nonetheless,
in early March 2018, there were reports from mul-
tiple sources that Tesla had not been able to consis-
tently achieve a production run rate of 800 units per
week. So Musk’s target of a weekly production rate
of 2,500 Models 3 by the end of March seemed very
much in jeopardy.
In addition, there were accumulating reports
from the owners of Model 3s relating to touch–
screen issues—one related to the audio system vol–
ume suddenly blasting higher without the screen
having been touched; another related to drivers
returning to their parked Model 3 and discovering
the touchscreen on and the audio sound blaring;
still another related to “phantom” inputs along the
edges of the touchscreen when certain apps were
opened. In some instances, Tesla had replaced the
touchscreens; in others, it promised a software solu–
tion would soon be forthcoming. A second reported
problem, in which the battery capacity decreased
noticeably while the car was parked in the sun on
a hot day for several hours, had been reported by a
number of Model 3 owners and, to a lesser extent,
by a few Model S and Model X owners. It appeared
that battery drain problems often occurred in Model
3 vehicles experiencing touchscreen issues. A cou–
ple of Model 3 owners with technical backgrounds
had speculated the problem related to touchscreens
being mounted on a large metal pedestal such that
large temperature differentials between a vehicle’s
hot interior and its cooler exterior caused the touch–
screen and plastic touchpad to warp and produce
other anomalies as the metal pedestal absorbed heat
from inside the vehicle. As of March 27, 2018, the
cause had not been pinpointed, but if the problem
did relate to a faulty pedestal design, then correct–
ing the design problem could cause further delays in
ramping up Model 3 production and drive up war–
ranty costs for Model 3s already delivered. During
the last week of March, Elon Musk tweeted that he
had taken over the role of supervising Model 3 pro–
duction for the time being.
The first week of April 2018, Tesla reported that it
produced 34,494 vehicles in the first quarter of 2018.
Tesla’s Q1 deliveries were 29,980 vehicles, of which
11,730 were Model S; 10,070, were Model X; and
8,180 were Model 3; as of March 31, 4,060 Model S
and Model X vehicles and 2,040 Model 3 vehicles
were in transit to customers. Tesla also reported that
after shifting some production resources away from
Model S and Model X production over to production
and assembly of the Model 3 during the last week of
March, it was able to produce 2,020 Models 3s in the
last seven days leading up to April 3. In its produc-
tion and delivery announcement, the company fur-
ther said:
Given the progress made thus far and upcoming actions
for further capacity improvement, we expect that the
Model 3 production rate will climb rapidly through Q2.
Tesla continues to target a production rate of approxi-
mately 5,000 units per week in about three months.
Finally, we would like to share two additional points
about Model 3:
• The quality of Model 3 coming out of production is
at the highest level we have seen across all our prod-
ucts. This is reflected in the overwhelming delight
experienced by our customers with their Model 3s.
Our initial customer satisfaction score for Model
3 quality is above 93 percent, which is the highest
score in Tesla’s history.
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