Tesla’s CEO and, incidentally, the richest man in the world claims Tesla made an ‘idiotic’ mistake by pausing Model X output in December 2020.
It is an event so rare that it deserves to be underlined, especially since it is not certain that it will happen again:
Elon Musk, the charismatic chief executive of Tesla, who pushed the automotive sector to make a dizzying transformation toward electric vehicles, admitted that he made a mistake. An “idiotic” one.
The mistake: Tesla (TSLA) – Get Tesla Inc Report shouldn’t have temporarily halted production of the Model X as it introduced a new version of the SUV in December 2020, Musk said on Wednesday.
Musk made his mea culpa in a post to his more than 73 million Twitter followers following a critical post.
“Here’s a criticism, the refreshed Model X rollout has been horrible & the lack of communication to customers who have been waiting for a year or more for their car & keep receiving delays is disappointing. I know the global supply situation is F….., but some comm would be nice,” the poster said.
To that Musk responded: “We dropped the ball badly regarding new Model X production ramp & still haven’t fully recovered. Was idiotic to stop production of old X in Dec 2020 when there was still plenty of demand.”
The Austin group introduced the Model X in 2015 after struggling with its butterfly-wing doors. In April 2021, Tesla said that it had temporarily halted production of Models S and X, its first two cars, without giving an explanation. This decision affected production for several months. Tesla delivered an updated version of the Model X only last fall.
“Model X is an extremely difficult car to build. Most complex passenger car ever. Limiting factor is interior trim,” Musk posted again on Wednesday.
In 2021, Tesla produced 24,390 Models S and X and delivered 24,964 to its customers. These data are down by 55.5% and 56.2% respectively compared with 2020.
The resumption of production and delivery of the Model X in fall 2021 seems to have been beneficial for the group since the fourth quarter represented 54% of the 24,390 Model S and Model X produced in 2021, and 47% of the 24,964 vehicles delivered in this category.
Tesla places the production and delivery figures of the Models S and X in the same category. It is therefore difficult to know what the share of each model is.
The base price of the Model X, which has a 332-mile range, is $99,690, while the Model S starts at $89,490.
