Today, the Tesla US website has updated the Model S configuration page. Currently, the fastest delivery time for ordering the Model Plaid is from September to October. For those who order the Model S Long Range, the earliest delivery time is in February or March 2022.
Currently, users who order the new Model S will have to wait for several months to receive their cars. Surprisingly, the longest delay time has been pushed to half a year before delivery. Although Tesla frequently changes vehicle prices and delivery times, this delay until next year is uncommonly long.
Here we will briefly analyze several reasons that may cause delivery delays.
Product defects require suspension of delivery to check vehicle safety
Last week, Tesla suddenly suspended the delivery of the updated Model S until July 25th USA time, when delivery resumed, Tesla did not inform customers the reason for the delay.
Sales consultants had different responses. Some said the software needed to be updated, while others said the vehicle firmware needed to be checked. Some owners received notifications that their vehicles had arrived at delivery centers, but local sales representatives told them that they could no longer deliver the new Model S.
Some media speculated that due to a spontaneous combustion incident after delivery, the company needed to recheck the vehicle’s safety issue. However, on July 25th, Tesla resumed delivery, which invalidated this theory.
Increased demand has led to delivery delays
After the first batch of Model S vehicles were delivered, some owners posted their driving experiences online with high praise, which generated a large number of orders for Tesla.
At the first Model S delivery ceremony, Elon Musk stated that deliveries would gradually increase to thousands of vehicles per week. Considering the latest expected delivery time on the Tesla website, this means that Tesla’s backlog of orders has exceeded 28,000 vehicles. At the same time, Model S production capacity continues to increase, so Tesla will only receive more orders.
Limited production leads to delivery delays.Other than high demand, another relatively reasonable explanation is the semiconductor shortage, which has restricted production and caused delivery delays. Currently, the entire automotive industry is facing the issue of semiconductor shortage. Elon also mentioned yesterday in the earnings call, “The impact of chip shortages is quite serious, and it’s hard to say how long it will last.”
Finally, for domestic consumers like us, can the updated Model S be delivered smoothly in the first quarter of 2022 as shown on the official website?
🔗Source: electrek
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.