The Tesla struggle is real

By far one of the most written and talked about anything, other than the POTUS Trump, Tesla’s become both a high and low-point in the car business. Of last however, it’s been mostly negative.

The Model 3 has been, since its unveiling in April of 2016, the be-all end-all product at Tesla. No matter the talk about the electric Semi Truck, or Elon’s Boring company or even SpaceX, Tesla’s affordable entry-level electric car is the story that makes the headlines. Almost all was well 18 months ago with hundreds of thousands of pre-orders but now it would that those that were promised car in mid-2018 will have to wait much longer…

Production issues, such as parts, welding and final assembly woes, as well as a shortage of batteries have all contributed in the company building only 260 Model 3s since late July. As November has rolled in, it is safe to say that production is far from meeting the projected 5,000 units a week by the end of this year… In fact, Musk has acknowledged that the company will not reach their goal this year.

A few weeks ago, several hundred employees (at least 700 or about 2% of the company’s workforce) were fired as a result of poor performance scores. However, it is alleged that this was nothing more than a cost-cutting measure and to possibly break up union plans according to many of these ex-employees.

All of this has resulted in Tesla losing $619 million the third quarter of 2017, from July to September. Despite this, they expect to deliver more than 100,000 this year, or about 25% more than in 2016.

The Tesla saga is truly a fascinating one but despite everything, we’re still fans of the man, his company and his dreams.