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Bob Lutz: Improved Tesla Panel Gaps Are Now “World Class”

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Published on June 16th, 2019 |

by Dr. Maximilian Holland

Bob Lutz: Improved Tesla Panel Gaps Are Now “World Class”

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June 16th, 2019 by Dr. Maximilian Holland

Renowned Tesla bear Bob Lutz has recently sung praises of the build quality of Tesla’s vehicles, saying of a Model 3 that he inspected, “not only was the paint without any discernible flaw, but the various panels formed a body of precision that was beyond reproach.”

This is a significant high note from Lutz, who has been singing of Tesla’s imminent downfall for years. Now a retired veteran of the auto industry, Lutz’s views on the world’s largest EV producer have been mixed, at best.

Recall that, back in the July 2006, Tesla revealed the world’s first compelling long-range EV, the Roadster. Then, in August 2006, Elon Musk “leaked” the secret Tesla Motors master plan, announcing their intended product roadmap of increasingly affordable EVs.

Lutz later famously credited Tesla’s Roadster and early EV plans (along with the early success of the Prius) as inspiring GM to work on the Chevrolet Volt (watch Chris Payne’s Revenge of the Electric Car for more early history). Lutz has also said of Tesla, and its pioneering work in EVs, that he will “always owe them a debt of gratitude for having kind of broken the ice.” Lutz evidently recognizes the role Tesla played early on, in creating the EV renaissance and inspiring others to work on their own EVs.

Lutz has frequently praised Tesla’s vehicles themselves, saying of the Tesla Model S: “A Model S, especially with the performance upgrades, is one of the fastest, best handling, best braking sedans that you could buy in the world today. … The acceleration times will beat any $350,000 European exotic.”

However, Lutz has often expressed doubts about Tesla’s business model and lack of focus on profitability. There are many examples of Lutz’s Tesla bashing, but this one gives the general flavour: “Tesla’s business model is upside down. … Their costs have always been higher than their revenue. … They always have to get more capital, then they burn through it.” We have several times covered the shade that Lutz has thrown Tesla’s way over recent years — if you want more examples, our full archives are here. Charles Morris also has an excellent article charting many of Lutz’s various statements on Tesla and Elon Musk, if you want a deep dive.

My own take on Lutz’s misunderstanding of Tesla’s investment-for-growth-before-profit strategy is fairly simple. Lutz himself was always a career man working for existing, well-established automakers which were well beyond their early growth phase, and likely never understood the culture of an innovative startup looking to disrupt the status quo. He probably didn’t grasp Tesla’s deliberate focus on continuous investment in (extraordinarily) high growth, not quarterly profits per se. This is conscious business strategy on Tesla’s part, and one that Elon Musk re-iterated in the recent 2019 Tesla Annual Shareholder Meeting.

In fairness to Lutz, given his own career, he could scarcely hope to understand this. Since retiring from his fairly conventional management roles, Lutz has only been involved with two small startup auto businesses (VIA Motors and VLF Automotive). It seems neither got beyond showing rough concepts and have now both seemingly either failed or gone into suspended animation. In short, Lutz has never been involved with a successful startup. He is not an entrepreneur.

Bob Lutz. Image credit: Ed Schipul/ [CC BY-SA 2.0] via Wikimedia Commons

The wind has now changed once more and we find Lutz singing the praises of Tesla’s vehicles again. In a recent Road and Track article, Lutz writes, “When I spied a metallic-red Model 3 in an Ann Arbor parking lot, I felt compelled to check it out.” Lutz was expecting to see evidence of the Tesla Model 3’s “production hell” writ large, in uneven panel gaps and imperfections in the paint work.

To his great surprise, Lutz found something completely different:

“But, when next to the car, I was stunned. Not only was the paint without any discernible flaw, but the various panels formed a body of precision that was beyond reproach. Gaps from hood to fenders, doors to frame, and all the others appeared to be perfectly even, equal side-to-side, and completely parallel. Gaps of 3.5 to 4.5mm are considered word-class. This Model 3 measured up.”

In case anyone is concerned that Lutz may have been abducted and replaced with an avatar, don’t sweat it:

“So, while I continue to be critical of Tesla’s business model and Musk’s strategy, it was impossible to find fault with the visual quality of that Model 3.”

Thanks Bob, good to know some things never change. 😉

Editor’s note: As much as I’ve enjoyed laughing at Bob Lutz’s comments about Tesla over the years, I think he deserves huge props for having a fairly open mind and so publicly praising Tesla after putting so much pessimism out there about the company’s ability to succeed or to even produce some of its vehicles (Model S, Model X, Model 3). Thank + kudos to Bob for not being a tribal Tesla troll.

About the Author

Dr. Maximilian Holland Max is an anthropologist, social theorist and international political economist, trying to ask questions and encourage critical thinking about social and environmental justice, sustainability and the human condition. He has lived and worked in Europe and Asia, and is currently based in Barcelona.

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Audi strives for the patronage

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Breaking! Tesla Now Offers Used Model 3’s — Should You Buy One?

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Published on June 15th, 2019 |

by Paul Fosse

Breaking! Tesla Now Offers Used Model 3’s — Should You Buy One?

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June 15th, 2019 by Paul Fosse

Image from Tesla

TL;DR: It depends.

If you ever take a management class in college, that is the answer to every essay question on the test. The instructor expects you to justify the reasons for the different cases. Maybe that is where I learned to be able to argue any side of any issue. Or maybe it was my involvement in politics. Regardless, the used Model 3’s are either a great deal or a horrible one and I will present both cases and they are both potentially true. I depends on your situation.

First, though, I’d like to give my Twitter friend, Steve Jobs (@tesla_truth), credit for letting me know these cars are now available.

I wasn’t able to find used Model 3’s anywhere but in San Francisco, but over time, they should show up around the country. If you really want one, you can have it shipped to you for $2,000 if you are outside of California, but I wouldn’t recommend it. You wouldn’t be able to inspect the car and it just makes the deal more complicated and expensive.

Example Used Vehicle

This early Model 3 has the classic Long Range Rear Wheel Drive that all the first cars came with, and also has the optional 19″ sport wheels and red paint.

Comparable New 3

You can’t order the same car new online today. You can just order the Long Range with All Wheel Drive and Autopilot. Don’t worry, I’ll adjust for that and discuss later.

Comparison

So, first, the case for the used Model 3.

If this is your dream configuration, it allows you to get the car you want for more than $10,000 less than a new Model 3 — that could be a couple hundred bucks a month and the difference between the car being affordable or being out of reach!

Clearly, you have to like the configuration, because if you start changing the wheels or color, you are going to just be spending extra money that you won’t get back. If you can’t find a configuration you love, it is better to buy new. So, if you love the red, long-range, rear-wheel-drive Model 3 with sport wheels, this might be a good deal for you. It would be a good choice for people who have the money to buy the car, but don’t have enough taxable to take the tax credit on the new car. [Editor’s note: This car is now actually gone, with all used Model 3 options now blue.]

For people who love driving the Model 3 (and it is EXTREMELY fun to drive) and don’t care about Autopilot (which I also love for longer trips), why pay for it? The warranty Tesla is offering on used cars is very good and overlaps with the new warranty. This means, in our example, if you bought the car on June 17, 2019, it would cover bumper to bumper till June 16, 2023 or until 78,201 miles on the odometer, whichever comes first. The battery and drive warranty is only 5 years and 92,000 miles from today, but frankly, there have been no reported problems with either of those (and you can bet any problems would be highly publicized by those who want Tesla to fail), so I’m not too worried about them. If you are keeping the car for a while, you don’t care too much about the miles on the car, since over time the condition of the car matters more than the miles.

Now, how about the case against the used car?

The first downside is that only people in California can consider this and really save any money. Another is that you may not like the configuration — you would rather spend your money on Autopilot instead of the red paint and sport wheels, for example.

Most people can use the tax credit and enjoy having the car from day one. There is a special bond many people feel when they buy a car new, to some degree or another (my wife feels this bond quite strongly, I don’t feel it as strongly).

If you are going to resell the car in a few years (possibly to buy a Model Y), I think getting the new one might be better since you will have fewer miles on it and it will be a one-owner trade-in, which may be better. I played around with Kelley Blue Book’s What’s My Car Worth site, and it appears that 15 cents a mile is a pretty good assumption for how much you will be docked for extra miles, but I didn’t adjust for it being one model year older — it seems that would be worth about $3,000 if you trade it in soon (if you keep the car 10 years, nobody cares if it is a 2018 or 2019).

For many, they would prefer to give up a little range and a few other minor features and go with the Standard Range or the Standard Range Plus rather than going used if they have trouble affording the Long Range car.

Conclusion
As I said, I tried to present a compelling case for buying the used vehicle and also a compelling case for why the new vehicle could be a much better deal. I think it is a great option for those who are looking for that specific vehicle and plan to keep it long enough that the miles and model year don’t matter. Which situation resonates with you? Let me know in the comments if you thought I was fair in my comparison.

If you want to take advantage of my Tesla referral link to get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging on a Tesla Model S, Model X, or Model 3, here’s the link: https://ts.la/paul92237 (but if someone else helped you more, please use their code instead of mine).

About the Author

Paul Fosse A Software engineer for over 30 years, first developing EDI software, then developing data warehouse systems. Along the way, I've also had the chance to help start a software consulting firm and do portfolio management. In 2010, I took an interest in electric cars because gas was getting expensive. In 2015, I started reading CleanTechnica and took an interest in solar, mainly because it was a threat to my oil and gas investments. Follow me on Twitter @atj721 Tesla investor. Tesla referral code: https://ts.la/paul92237

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