Much has been made of Tesla’s early issues with reliability. Elon has discussed a handful of problems the Model S drive unit faced in the first few years. Door handles have been known to act up. And other little things here and there have been common enough to get trolls highlighting them as supposed “canaries in the coal mine” regarding Tesla manufacturing and reliability.
Alas, trolls can harp on specific issues for only so long (right?), and Tesla looks set to outrun them by improving reliability year after year. On last night’s Tesla conference call for shareholders and the media, Elon noted that there had been “dramatic improvements in [Model S] reliability.” In the shareholder letter, he wrote:
Reflecting our philosophy of continuous improvement, we have not relaxed our pursuit of making the world’s most reliable cars. The cost of first year repair claims on cars produced in 2015 was at about half the level of cars produced in 2014, and about one quarter the level of cars produced in 2012.
Good news. Especially as this is happening:
Will people (especially bears) still bring up reliability and try to beat the issue to death? Of course. I expect years of this still to come. What else can they cling to in order to try to put Tesla in bad light?
Related:
Tesla Releases Quarter 1 & Full 2016 Model S + X Delivery Guidance
35% Increase In Tesla Model S Orders In Q4 2015 vs Q4 2014
#1 Tesla Dominates Large Luxury Car Market In US (Updated Figures)