Photo: John Cummings on wikimedia.org
We still have no idea when the first deliveries of the new Tesla Model 3 will commence, but at least we now know that if production doesn't start immediately after July 1, 2017, Tesla employees will get penalized.
Do we really care about that? Well, on a human level, we don't like to know people are being punished, but on a personal level, all we care about is that the new electric sedan gets on the street as quickly as possible. How that happens is none of our business - just like we don't go into the kitchen of a restaurant to see how our meal is cooked, but wait for it at the table and get irritated when it's late.
Tesla released its first quarter financial details yesterday, but since the company's CEO was present at the event as well, a lot more than that happened. Instead of giving us boring yet relevant numbers, Musk took the time to speak about what's on everyone's mind regarding his company, which is Tesla's production capacity.
He is perfectly aware that if he wants to meet the staggering demand for the unreleased Model 3, he's going to have to increase production five-fold. Tesla is in a continuous expansion process, putting the finishing touches on its Gigafactory and looking for opportunities to expand abroad - particularly Europe and, most of all, China. If everything goes to plan, building half a million units annually won't be a problem in two or three years’ time, but the over 400,000 Model 3 reservations can't wait that long.
Building factories is one thing, but you also need people to man them. Musk is hell bent on gathering the best workforce around his company, but his poor people skills might be showing. On the one hand, he says that Tesla "is going to be hell-bent on becoming the best manufacturer on Earth," and asks people to join his company; on the other, though, he sets unrealistic deadlines like the one for Model 3 we've just told you, and says that "there needs to be penalties internally or externally for anyone who doesn't meet that timeframe [July 1st]. We need to hold peoples' feet to the fire."
Would you like to work for a company that threatens to have your feet held to the fire even though it knows the task it asks of you is undoable? Is that a healthy working environment and a good message to send to your employees? I guess it all comes down to two things: the salary and exactly how hot that fire is.
Tesla released its first quarter financial details yesterday, but since the company's CEO was present at the event as well, a lot more than that happened. Instead of giving us boring yet relevant numbers, Musk took the time to speak about what's on everyone's mind regarding his company, which is Tesla's production capacity.
He is perfectly aware that if he wants to meet the staggering demand for the unreleased Model 3, he's going to have to increase production five-fold. Tesla is in a continuous expansion process, putting the finishing touches on its Gigafactory and looking for opportunities to expand abroad - particularly Europe and, most of all, China. If everything goes to plan, building half a million units annually won't be a problem in two or three years’ time, but the over 400,000 Model 3 reservations can't wait that long.
Building factories is one thing, but you also need people to man them. Musk is hell bent on gathering the best workforce around his company, but his poor people skills might be showing. On the one hand, he says that Tesla "is going to be hell-bent on becoming the best manufacturer on Earth," and asks people to join his company; on the other, though, he sets unrealistic deadlines like the one for Model 3 we've just told you, and says that "there needs to be penalties internally or externally for anyone who doesn't meet that timeframe [July 1st]. We need to hold peoples' feet to the fire."
Would you like to work for a company that threatens to have your feet held to the fire even though it knows the task it asks of you is undoable? Is that a healthy working environment and a good message to send to your employees? I guess it all comes down to two things: the salary and exactly how hot that fire is.
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