In 2016, Tesla CEO Elon Musk stood on a stage in Los Angeles to introduce the corporate’s new automobile to the world: the Mannequin 3. There was only one drawback. The automobile didn’t exist but.
In episode one in every of Land of the Giants: The Tesla Shock Wave, we’re diving into the tumultuous manufacturing of the Mannequin 3, Tesla’s first electrical automobile for the plenty. Tesla turned a large within the auto business based mostly off the success of the Mannequin 3, an inexpensive EV that seamlessly blended cool tech with an inexpensive worth. However the automobile very almost drove Tesla out of enterprise — and, together with it, the corporate’s capricious, bombastic chief, Elon Musk.
Keep in mind that in 2016, Tesla had solely ever made three automobiles: the area of interest Roadster, and the premium-priced Mannequin S and Mannequin X. The Mannequin 3 was going to be the car that launched Tesla to the world. However a mix of things — restricted manufacturing facility house, an overreliance on automation, battery provide constraints, and a rising sense by lots of the individuals intimately concerned within the course of that Tesla was simply making it up on the fly — almost prompted every thing to spin uncontrolled.
“I’ve additionally heard the analogy of fixing the wheels on a transferring bus whereas it’s flying down the freeway,” stated Kyrstin Munson, who led buyer satisfaction at Tesla throughout the Mannequin 3’s launch. “My job was to promote tickets on that transferring bus, and that bus was typically on hearth.”
“My job was to promote tickets on that transferring bus, and that bus was typically on hearth.”
Right this moment, Tesla’s so-called “manufacturing hell” is firmly within the rearview mirror. The corporate is on its way to selling nearly 2 million cars this year and is extensively thought of to be on the vanguard of the auto business’s shift to electrical autos. However for a quick time, between the Mannequin 3’s reveal and when prospects first began to get their automobiles, your complete operation was hanging by a thread.
“I went from being fairly, fairly assured in all of the issues that needed to be performed to get the car to be proper, at the least throughout the time constraints, to love, ‘holy crap, this factor is a monster,” Doug Subject, senior VP for engineering at Tesla throughout the Mannequin 3’s manufacturing, stated. “And I believe the entire firm realized that as nicely. Like, it is a monster like we’ve by no means seen, and it’s the survival of Tesla.”
Hearken to the newest episode of Land of the Giants: The Tesla Shock Wave, a co-production between The Verge and the Vox Media Podcast Community. You possibly can catch new episodes on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.