Electrical vehicle giant Tesla has been having quite a bit of trouble as of late, the majority of which stems around their newest model, the Model X. The Model X, which launched last fall, is a minivan with its most defining feature being its “falcon wing” doors. The problems with the falcon wing doors, as well as other features such as climate control and second-row seats, led to a staggering amount of complaints, negative publicity from Consumer Reports, and over 2,700 Model X vehicles being recalled due to the seat issue.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Model X lessee Brad Ledwith has tried to call the nearest showroom after his falcon wing doors ceased to function, but was told that he had to wait two weeks for an appointment due to Tesla's service center being swamped with repair orders. Consumer Reports also mentions Michael Karpf, a customer who's had more problems than just the falcon wing doors. According to Karpf, one of his windows refused to roll down until it broke through a piece of the door's chrome trim. Karpf also raised complaints about the heater not working properly on chilly days, as well as problems with Autopilot's AI. Another common problem was the windshield that caused double vision in many customers.
Other customers, however, remain loyal to Tesla and defend both the Model X and the brand in spite of the model's shortcomings, and understand that a relatively new company trying to revolutionize the vehicle industry is bound to run into some problems along the way. In fact, the Model S was in a similar spot as the X, garnering bad quality ratings from Consumer Reports, but still managed to receive excellent customer satisfaction ratings from the same magazine.
Fortunately, Tesla has addressed these problems with their Model X, as well as plans to resolve those issues. A statement released in the Wall Street Journal says, “Tesla says it is quickly addressing its manufacturing problems… and improving its ability to bring high-quality vehicles to market is a priority for Chief Executive Elon Musk”. With plans to release their most affordable long-range electric car to date, the Model 3, next year, Tesla hopes to smooth out the kinks in the Model X before then. However, with competition becoming more and more fierce, Tesla may need to step up their game some more.
GM, who also has an electric car line of their own called the Volt, is launching another electric car model line, the aptly-named Bolt, later this year. Another competitor, the Chinese company LeEco may have successfully one-upped Tesla in the autonomous capability department. Their LeSEE is capable of being autonomously summoned to the driver via voice commands through a smartphone app, and can even be commanded to reverse in the same fashion.
By contrast, Tesla's vehicles are capable of smartphone automation, but not via voice commands as of yet. LeEco themselves also announced an investment in a joint venture with one of Tesla's biggest competitors, Faraday Future. What's more, China as a country has not only waived a law protecting small companies that only invest in electric technology from being pummeled by foreign competition, but has also been taking on engineers from companies like BMW in an attempt to make China the leading electric car-producing country.
Perhaps Tesla's biggest concern competition wise, though, is the one you'd least expect: Apple. Tesla's former vice president of vehicle engineering, Chris Porritt, has reportedly been hired by Apple for what could be Apple's to-be-announced electric car project, currently codenamed Project Titan. Although Musk has brushed off Apple as a threat in the past, calling it the “Tesla graveyard”—anyone fired from Tesla works at Apple—they still have potential to be a major competitor to Tesla, although that may be a long time in coming—their first successful iterations of their electric cars may arrive as far into the future as 2022. Hopefully Tesla can still gain an edge on Apple and other competitors if they avoid any more bugs in future projects, as at the moment, they are still considered a niche luxury brand.
