TIME TO PUT THIS BABY TO BED!
LESS than $260 to GO!!
Posted on 06/14/2019 7:36:00 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
...manifestations of Tesla CEO Elon Musk's "production hell" with my own eyes.
ut, when next to the car, I was stunned. Not only was the paint without any discernible flaw, but the various panels formed a body of precision that was beyond reproach. Gaps from hood to fenders, doors to frame, and all the others appeared to be perfectly even, equal side-to-side, and completely parallel. Gaps of 3.5 to 4.5mm are considered word-class. This Model 3 measured up.
...I once described one American employer's cars as "looking like a squadron of related panels going down the road in loose formation."
Volkswagen, in the eighties, was the first Western producer to out-do the Japanese in assembly precision. I asked then-CEO Ferdinand Piëch how they did it: "I got all the production execs in a room and told them they had six weeks to achieve consistent 4mm gaps or they'd all be fired. It was easy!" I humbly suggested this, er, "leadership style" would not be appropriate in the US, and thus, never tried it.
But upon my return to GM In 2001, I found that shaming worked just as well. I had assembled most of the GM products at the proving ground and flanked them with role models from Germany (surprisingly not the best), Japan (better, but second) and Korea (the world's best.) I lead the cluster of proud GM execs from car to car until the enormous, Harley-jacketed Joe Spielman—then president of assembly—literally grabbed me by the collar and said "Enough of this crap! Just show me what you want, and I'll get it for you, guaranteed!"
(Excerpt) Read more at roadandtrack.com ...
Bob Lutz has been The Man at several car companies. He visits showrooms with a gap gauge.
Tesla cars keep getting better, and they’ll keep improving.
How the Tesla Model 3 became the World’s Safest Car!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkayYiwrjyQ&t=2s
When he was at Chrysler, pushing the then new Viper, he was all for Perot’s 50 cent per gallon gasoline tax in a car magazine interview. I was turned off.
And he got all of that from one car?
All the things he said about fit and finish do matter - a lot. I got screwed by a late 79s Le Mans, my first new car. Somewhat analogous to losing your virginity to a girl with the clap. Took me 20 years to give GM a second chance. Which I subsequently learned it did not deserve. Which I why my family owns 3 Sonatas.
But back to my first statement. Has Tesla improved? I don’t know. But considering the amount of evidence to the contrary, I think making such a blanket statement based on a single car is simply not good logic.
If he had said, wow, this car tells me we need to give Tesla another look and see if this is the new norm - then I would have agreed.
79s = 70s
Look at your typical rice-burner; I doubt that Tesla has anything over it.
But considering the amount of evidence to the contrary, I think making such a blanket statement based on a single car is simply not good logic.
Yes, a one car sample is considerably less than Six Sigma manufacturing would require.
That said, where is this” the amount of evidence to the contrary” about Tesla QC?
Yes, they had a rough start on ramping up the Model 3.
Very common for the old big three, not right but not unusual.
There have been plenty of complaints about fit, finish, timely service and repair.
I’m not going to give you a footnoted piece on those subjects and get off on a tangent of bashing/defending Tesla.
My point: He saw one nice car and made sweeping assumptions about the company’s product line. That’s a common fallacy in logic - going from the micro to the macro.
Analysis of Tesla’s 2019 Shareholder Meeting
Thank you for a nice find.
He communicates well and QUICKLY.
Many good points, my favorite was Rivan and others joining the Tesla Supercharger network.
I find it hilarious anyone listens to him or buys his consulting services.
On an unrelated note, has anyone else noticed how often you come across a car driving down the road with its back up (reverse) lights on? I see this fairly frequently and can’t figure out what would cause it and why it is so common.
I have a Santa Fe and two Pontiac Vibes. Vibes are Toyotas for a GM price. Then there’s the nitrous Camaro...
bookmark
We had a Toyota Matrix that was a great little car except for the very poor outward visibility. My subsequent first ride in a Subaru Impreza 5-door was like riding in a greenhouse by comparison.
I was turned off.
So you drive a Citroën?
Near as I can see Mr Lutz has worked at all the rest.
Plus TEN YEARS USMC AVIATOR and sometimes selling vacuum cleaners.
Lutz has an incredible CV.
If you are going to bake a cake, you will break some eggs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Lutz_(businessman)#Chronology
Iacocca, said he should have picked Lutz as his successor rather than Bob Eaton at the end of 1992, but at the time Iacocca and Lutz were not getting along. Eaton was responsible for the sale of Chrysler to Daimler-Benz in 1998 which Daimler ended up backing out of in 2007 when it sold Chrysler to Cerberus Capital Management. Referring to the job performance of Eaton, Iacocca claimed that Lutz “would eat him for lunch”.[8]
He was to retire from GM at the end of 2009. Lutz said that one reason for his decision was the increasing regulatory climate in Washington that would force GM to produce what Federal regulators wanted, rather than what customers wanted. Lutz has expressed skepticism on the issue of global warming.
I have owned a Ford Torino, half a dozen Darts, a Dodge Diplomat Wagon, a Chevy dump truck, two Ford Aerostars, a Chevy Caprice wagon, Buick Roadmaster wagon, Chevy Monte Carlo, two Buick Centuries, Buick Park Avenue, 1965 Chrysler 300 two door hardtop. No Citroens. In fact, I joked that my Caprice wagon ate Citroens for breakfast in front of a French seminarian who remarked, “I own a Citroen.” The penitential life, I guess. I hate 50 cent gasoline taxes.
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