Though there are a myriad of reasons to praise Tesla, the company is certainly not without its fair share of faults. Aside from Elon Musk’s penchant for making ambitious promises that routinely go unfulfilled, Tesla has a long and storied history of production delays that have impacted every single car they’ve ever released. Even the Model 3 — which was supposedly going to be easier to manufacture than the Model S — has been subject to numerous production hurdles. In turn, buyers who place an order for a Model 3 today may not actually assume ownership of the vehicle until 2020.
While reports of the Model 3 being backlogged are nothing new, there’s now word that Tesla’s other vehicles — the Model S and the Model X — are backlogged as well. According to a report from Electrek, demand for the Model S and its SUV counterpart has been so strong as of late that there’s now something of a waiting list for both vehicles.
As a quick illustration, any new orders placed for Tesla’s Model S or Model X are now subject to a June 2018 delivery date.
The report reads in part:
This unusual delay sparked speculation that Tesla could be working on a design refresh or production line update for Model S and Model X.
But we reached out to the company about the situation and a spokesperson said that the new delivery timeline is the result of high demand increasing the backlog of orders.
While overwhelming demand is certainly a nice problem to have, Tesla will not be able to skate by with slow turnaround times forever. Especially as EVs from rivals such as Chevy continue to gain traction — not to mention forthcoming EVs from sophisticated players like Porsche — ongoing production issues might eventually lead prospective Tesla buyers to look elsewhere.
Article updated to clarify that deliveries are not technically delayed since no target dates are being missed. Instead, customers are getting delivery estimates that have been much later than expected.
