silvrsvt Posted May 10, 2017 Share Posted May 10, 2017 I'm out visiting San Jose this week on a business trip and one of my coworkers out here has a Tesla Model S. He has a very lucrative side business selling Office furniture from busted dotcoms in the area. Anyways he offered to take us on a tour at the old NUMMI plant that is about 30 minutes from our facility in San Jose. I can't really say much about the tour and factory since they made us sign NDA's before the tour. To be honest the factory wasn't that "busy" to me....I've been EAP several times when my old man worked there and they where pumping out 50+ cars/trucks an hour vs 2500 or so a week that Tesla produces. It was neat seeing the presses they use to stamp aluminum to make up the unibody/shells of the cars, since I never seen that before. The Model 3 line was being setup and well IMO I don't think they'll have it ready for July's launch either. My coworker gave us a ride in his Tesla on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning to the factory. I was really impressed by the performance/torque the car had and not so much by the interior of the car...the materials where ok, but the design really left me "cold" I felt like I was looking at Ikea furniture and not a luxury car. The 17 inch touchscreen was nice touch and seemed to respond pretty well vs my experiences with MFT (not Sync3 or whatever they are calling it these days in newer products). The ride of the car was on the harsh side (worse then my SHO with 20inch wheels), which also was unexpected to me..it was more sports car vs luxury car. I wouldn't mind owning one, but I also don't have the bank account to afford a $115K or so car payment If someone can come out with an electric car that gets about 200 miles a charge and make money off it withthe cost being under $40K, I think we will see the end of the internal combustion engine sooner then later. After seeing/experiencing what I saw with the Tesla Model S, we might be only another 5-10 years, if that. I don't think Tesla is going to upend the major players, but they are going to sure spur the changes that will make the Toyotas/Ford/GM's of the world do so. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carrera911 Posted May 10, 2017 Share Posted May 10, 2017 Thanks for sharing. I don't suppose you were able to take pictures in the visit (I assume if you signed an NDA they didn't let you take pictures). 2500 cars a week is a production rate faster than exotic cars I suppose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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