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Two major Tesla departures raise red flags about Model 3 production

Published May 4th, 2016 1:40PM EDT
Tesla Executive Departures Model 3 Production

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Tesla has always had the vision to deliver the car of the future, but does it have the production chops? Bloomberg is reporting that two major Tesla executives — vice president of production Greg Reichow and vice president of manufacturing Josh Ensign — will be leaving the company. This is not a good look for Tesla, which has had to deal with an unprecedented number of reservations for its potentially game-changing Model 3 car that it unveiled last month.

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One of Bloomberg’s sources says that “the executive changes are linked to delays, glitches, and a recall that have bedeviled Tesla’s Model X,” although Tesla officially denies that this is the case… but then again, what else would you expect them to say?

Here’s the problem for Tesla: If it’s experiencing production problems with the Model X, it’s almost impossible to see it being able to meet demand for the Model 3. For some perspective, it took Tesla three-and-a-half years to sell 100,000 Model S cars. Its registrations to buy the Model 3 are are already past 400,000, and it’s not likely that the company will be able to produce nearly enough cars to fill all its orders in a timely fashion.

At any rate, this is definitely some interesting news heading into Tesla’s latest earnings report that it’s set to drop later this afternoon.

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.