Elon Musk admits Tesla car quality flaws, says mass production is “hell”
Here is a distillation of various Tesla commentary I have seen, heard, and read.<p>Tesla made some mistakes, some due to hubris, some due to speed, some due to the newness of EVs.<p>Their emphasis is on speed since their mission is accelerating sustainable energy. That results in rapid iteration to reduce cost and simplify production. All those changes result in deviance but also improvements. The speed helps them quickly fix novel problems.<p>So you get panel gaps in some cars as they change and fix processes but you also get improved range due to the lighter rear casting. You get paint defects in some cars as they speed up the production line and don’t initially notice that it decreased drying time. You also get cheaper cars since they can produce more cars in the same time. You get a rattling heat pump that they subsequently insulate but you also get better range especially in cold weather.<p>This is why he said that if you want perfection, you either get an early car (since they will be inspected thoroughly) or you get a car at the end after all processes have stabilized. What should theoretically be happening all along the way though is a car that is overall better than competition since it is being much more rapidly improved (and with Tesla learning along the way). It’s up to each consumer to decide.