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It's a terrible design in terms of ergonomics and user experience but it's frankly genius in terms of development timeline efficiency and cost control. Tesla wa

by cc439 8y ago

It's a terrible design in terms of ergonomics and user experience but it's frankly genius in terms of development timeline efficiency and cost control. Tesla was able to condense hundreds of indididual parts that come from a supply chain involving a dozen plus companies into a single component. Radios, HVAC controls, gauges, and the fancy dashboards which contain them are among the most expensive parts to develop in terms of both time and money. The amount of time Tesla saved in PPAPs (Production Part Approval Process) alone might be as much as a year and when working with a timeline as aggressive as those demanded by Musk, anything that reduces development time is more valuable than gold. It's a genius way to reduce the time needed to bring a car to market, the final bill of materials, and the complexity of assembly and installation of such a key component as a dashboard. It's a terrible idea in terms of driver experience but those are the kinds of compromised that must be made to bring something like a Model 3 to market at the promised $35,000 price point.

ghaff 8y ago
I can't decide if this is snark or not. The decisions you make to optimize your processes are irrelevant to me as a consumer. Yes, you have to make calls on compromises but if you don't make the right ones, that's on you.
- cc439 8y ago
  It's actually not snark. I work in the industry and I legitametely believe Tesla's call to forgo traditional controls is defensible when viewed through this lense. Tesla's current business model is, and has been, 100% dependent on getting the Model 3 to market at the famously touted price of $35,000. Bringing a car like the Model 3, with all the features promised over the years, into mass production (100k+ per year production rate) within a timeframe required to secure a position in the market where 100k example can be sold necessitates such wild thinking. Yes, it's a terrible design for the driver, but Tesla beat every other manufacturer to the punch by at least 4 years. The "everything is contained in one, basocally off the shelf touchscreen" idea makes part of the ownership experience worse bit it got the Model 3 in consumer's hands at least 1 year earlier than it would have been otherwise and likely shaved a grand or two off the final base price. I'd never buy a Model 3 because the touchscreen is so offensivley terrible. However, when a quarter million people are willing to put their money down to buy one simply due to the range, pricw point, and expected launch date, then any compromise that helps get the car into their hands as promised, without a revolt among depositors, is "smart" in its own right.

by cc439 8y ago

ghaff 8y ago

I can't decide if this is snark or not. The decisions you make to optimize your processes are irrelevant to me as a consumer. Yes, you have to make calls on compromises but if you don't make the right ones, that's on you.

cc439 8y ago
It's actually not snark. I work in the industry and I legitametely believe Tesla's call to forgo traditional controls is defensible when viewed through this lense. Tesla's current business model is, and has been, 100% dependent on getting the Model 3 to market at the famously touted price of $35,000. Bringing a car like the Model 3, with all the features promised over the years, into mass production (100k+ per year production rate) within a timeframe required to secure a position in the market where 100k example can be sold necessitates such wild thinking. Yes, it's a terrible design for the driver, but Tesla beat every other manufacturer to the punch by at least 4 years. The "everything is contained in one, basocally off the shelf touchscreen" idea makes part of the ownership experience worse bit it got the Model 3 in consumer's hands at least 1 year earlier than it would have been otherwise and likely shaved a grand or two off the final base price. I'd never buy a Model 3 because the touchscreen is so offensivley terrible. However, when a quarter million people are willing to put their money down to buy one simply due to the range, pricw point, and expected launch date, then any compromise that helps get the car into their hands as promised, without a revolt among depositors, is "smart" in its own right.