When Tesla celebrated the opening of its Gigafactory in Grünheide and handed over the first 30 Model Y vehicles “Made in Germany” to its customers, the cars were in perfect condition. Now, however, there have been customer complaints about defects in the new vehicles that have been delivered.
On March 22, everything seemed perfect in the newly opened Gigafactory in Grünheide. The vehicles exhibited on the site also impressed with their good workmanship. But customer complaints were not long in coming. According to a report by the Teslamag blog, a customer was disappointed when he saw his new Tesla Model Y.
Complaints about defects in delivered Model Y vehicles can also be found on Twitter. “(…) Unfortunately, the quality of the German Teslas is really not good. These are a few impressions of my MYP that was given to me yesterday…” tweeted a man who apparently bought a German-made Tesla. Several irregular gap dimensions can be seen in published photos. In addition, the tailgate on the right protrudes a bit outwards. Another man who claims to have bought a Tesla Model Y reports numerous fine scratches on the black paintwork on Facebook.
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Of the star Tesla asked for comment in a written request on Thursday. However, Tesla has not responded to the request as of the publication of this article.
Customer complaints about the Model Y already in 2020
The media has been reporting on defects such as irregular gap dimensions and scratches on the body of Tesla vehicles for some time. In the spring of 2020, the electric car maker began delivering the Model Y in the United States. And a little later, customers of the e-model in the USA increasingly complained about defects in their delivered car, as “Electrek” wrote in June 2020. Eventually, cancellations are said to have occurred.
According to the report, Elon Musk acknowledged problems with the general assembly of the Model Y and sent an email to his employees. In it he wrote: “It is extremely important for us to ramp up production of the Model Y and minimize the need for rework.” At the time, there were suspicions that Tesla was trying to deliver as many Model Y vehicles as possible in the current quarter in order to be able to report good numbers. Similar assumptions could now also be heard with reference to Grünheide.
Study: Tesla cars have an above-average number of defects
In fact, the Initial Quality Study by the US analysis company JD Power, published at the end of June 2020, showed that new Tesla cars – mostly Model 3 vehicles – had more defects than the vehicles of the other 31 car brands considered. The quality was determined based on the number of problems encountered per 100 vehicles (PP100). A lower score meant higher quality. Tesla received an initial quality rating of 250 problems per 100 vehicles, even though the US automaker was not officially part of the study. Because he did not grant JD Power access to the registration data of customer vehicles.
The problems with the Tesla cars were mainly in the production and in things like paint defects, ill-fitting body panels, difficult to open and close trunks and hoods, wind noise and squeaking and rattling noises. In Canada, Tesla owners even filed a class action lawsuit against the automaker over paint quality issues.
In contrast, Dodge and Kia performed best in the study, with 136 problems per 100 vehicles. The average for 2020 model year vehicles was 166 problems per 100 vehicles. In the subsequent study in 2021, Tesla improved a little with 231 problems to 100 vehicles, but ended up in the last places in the ranking.
About a year ago, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that it was extremely difficult to implement all the details correctly during the ramp-up of a new factory. Customers interested in perfection should therefore either buy very early or only when production in a Tesla plant is stable, he recommends.
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Source: Stern
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