The fit and finish of Teslas is absolutely embarrassing by any standard, but by the standards of German car makers it’s a total joke.<p>My theory has always been that Tesla is pretty much done the day BMW and MB and Audi get the hang of the electric thing.<p>The experience of sitting in a $70k+ Tesla is below that of a Honda Civic. There’s a limit to how long that’s going to last in a competitive market.
The Tesla panel gap spec on the front hood is 4.5mm +/- 1.5mm. One side could be 3mm, and the other 6mm, and that would be considered within spec. I just took my Model 3 in for panel gap issues yesterday (new as of 5 weeks ago), and their fix, although an improvement, wasn’t nearly the quality I’d expect on a car in the same class as a BMW, but it was “in spec”. I forced the tech to show me the spec document. After confirming with a panel gap gauge that the gap on the front was 6mm and within spec, I told the tech that it still didn’t look right. His advice was to leave it as it is, because other cars with similar gaps haven’t really been adjusted properly... when one panel is properly gap’d, the others are then wrong. Whatever method they’re using in the field to fix the gap problem isn’t able to reliably get consistent gaps.
>Nextmove said its Model 3 vehicles had paint defects, faulty wiring, scratches on the dashboard, faulty wheels and condensation in the headlights.<p>This seems like a pretty significant list of defects for only 85 cars. Assuming one incedence per defect, 5 / 85 ~= 6%. Thats a high rate of failure from tesla.<p>Hopefully damage is being incurred during transit. Tesla is still responsible, of course, but its better than having bad core processes.
One possible issue I have heard about regarding <i>paint</i> problems in particular is that California State and Bay Area local authorities have particularly tight limits on VOCs in terms of lbs per gallon of paint, and in terms of total annual lbs of VOC emissions which the Tesla paint shops are allowed to emit.<p>I believe the Federal standard is 5.0lbs/gallon but CA limits that further to 3.5lbs/gallon. Apparently it’s pretty hard to make decent hard coat paint with that little VOC emissions.<p>The BAAQMD (Bay Area Air Quality Management District) also permits Tesla paint shops for a maximum total annual VOC emission level. This level could be low enough that either the paint shop becomes a production bottleneck, or they have to find ways to use less paint per vehicle.<p>It can’t be easy to manufacture cars in the regulatory environment that is the Bay Area, and many of these regs have tightened significantly since GM & Toyota closed NUMMI in 2010. CARB VOC limits, and local air quality district regulations in particular.<p>I’m sure this is an issue that all manufacturers are facing to some degree, but it’s interesting how the location of the final assembly plants can have a big impact on the regulations and therefore the finishing processes that can be used.<p>EDIT: That’s not to say the limits should not exist, or Tesla should be granted a waiver, etc.
from the article<p>"“We believe the customer’s decision not to take delivery of its remaining Model 3 orders wasn’t entirely due to quality issues, but was largely influenced by their frustration with an unrelated dispute from earlier in the year,” Tesla said in a statement, without elaborating further."<p>Translated: Nextmove wanted fleet discounts Tesla wasn't willing to provide and they grasped at straws to get out of the contract. Model 3 famously had fit and finish issues in the first runs but most issues are resolved and the quality of vehicles coming off the line now is pretty good. The famous panel gaps issues, I dare anyone to go measure them on your current car and on a Tesla built in the second half of 2019 and tell me if it's any different. I've seen BMW with pretty questionable craftmanship and tons of electrical issues that are super expensive to resolve.<p>This is a non news.
It's a shame that Tesla has build quality issues, but it's rich that a car company in a country known for making expensive cars with defective designs is panning a foreign automaker for quality issues.
Perhaps Tesla wanted them to cancel the order because they couldn't fulfill it and that's why they delivered sub-par vehicles that they know would be throughly scrutinized.