Tesla’s Elon Musk announced Tuesday that the automaker will limit its paint options to simplify production and, hopefully, improve volume. “Moving [two] of [seven] Tesla colors off menu on Wednesday to simplify manufacturing,” said the CEO via social media. “Obsidian Black and Metallic Silver will still be available as special request, but at higher price.”
The announcement comes after a busy press week for Tesla. Musk lost his chief accounting officer after a comically brief tenure and was lambasted for smoking marijuana on Joe Rogan’s podcast. However, the real crime was how much of it Elon wasted by puffing on the monster wrap in an attempt to appease the host, without ever inhaling any smoke. That’s no way to get high.
Spliffs aside, the company’s decision to increase the point of entry for two of the most popular paint shades in history does seem a little drug induced. In truth, Solid Black is actually the only Tesla color that comes without an additional cost. The rest are technically on special order. Obsidian and Metallic Silver will just have their own extra special category now. The automaker probably thinks it’s a good way to speed up production a bit while making some extra cash, as both would be helpful.
In a blog post earlier this month, Musk said Tesla was on pace to deliver more than twice as many cars as it did last quarter. Meanwhile, the firm has put a gun to its own head to do everything in its power to increase revenue and avoid a potential cash crunch as shares took a sizable dive in August.
While the CEO did not say how much those colors would cost, some shades already tack on a hefty premium. Expect to shell out at least $1,500 for sparkly black or gray, while waiting longer for delivery.
[Image: Tesla Motors]
When the old GM was circling the drain as a way to cut costs they “streamlined” the paint process. I don’t think this was more evident on any other platform than Zeta, where they got a single coat of primer, base, and clear, no clear in the engine bay, and barely and base coat.
The paint chipping issues on the front ends of GM vehicles in the 00s is epic.
Ya, I read the story, they are eliminating colors and charging extra for more.
Tesla owners will just tell you that orange peel, chipping, and thin coats from a reduced palette is a special feature only found on Teslas, that’s why you pay extra.
Obsidian and Metallic Silver are going from $1500 today to $2000 starting on September 15th. I’d prefer blue, white, or red anyway.
Their email said if you order one of these special colors now, they could be squeezed out in 2 to 4 weeks.
With ATP now over $60k for the Model 3, hopefully they’re making money on these things.
First welds, now paint colors. Tires will be optional soon, buy three and get the fourth one free. This is like watching a monkey trying to ride a football.
“ride?”
…not the way I have heard it…..
You can have a Tesla in any color as long as its black.
– Elon (Henry Ford) Musk
For as much as Elon seems to loathe Ford, it’s interesting that he’s not shy about poaching from their playbook.
As crazy as old Henry was, his decision to settle on one color only was actually for a very good reason.
Amazing how much press coverage Tesla receives….a bit over the top considering it has less than 1% of US automotive market share.
Comedy sells nowadays.
I mean people have called that company a ‘car manufacturer’, even though they can’t even manufacture their super-simplified, below-all-industry-standards, base-bargain-basement crap! Do they have door pockets nowadays, or is that something the believers may expect to see in 10 years?
I dunno, they’ve built over 90k Model 3s so far, and they all have door pockets.
Since when is a car that has all-wheel drive and has 0 to 60 time in the low 3-second range and a quarter mile time of 11.77 to 11.8 seconds bargain basement crap? I get it, you’d rather have pretty paint and perfectly aligned panels over performance. Oh mommy, look at my purrrfectly aligned panels on my new KIA. Something those nasty Tesla people just don’t appreciate. Look, orange peel paint, how gauche. I bet those heathens don’t even have cupholders.
Not mommy – daddy:
Junior: “Daddy, look at my purrrfectly aligned panels on my new KIA.”
Daddy: “There’s no way, no WAY that you came from my loins.”
Yeah, Tesla can’t even nearly match Kia. Let alone cars half its price… Cars around Tesla’s prices are so far ahead it’s like they’re not in the same half century. As one expert put it, they’re at German 70’s level.
Yeah, German car – the epitome of quality. As if.
@ mcs – even poorly or below average engineered crap can be fast. Look at every Corvette from about 1963 to 1996.
Poorly engineered? And how do you know that?
raph, I’d love a resto-modded Stingray with an LS engine, disc brakes all around, magna ride, and a newish nav/bluetooth/sat nav infotainment system. Nassau Blue convertible please.
Go drift into a crowd Pony Boy.
Are we being pukt?
The picture. Those arent the aluminum wheels on the car. All the ones i ve seen are the ugly black blob wheels with small slots.
Those are the optional 19″ aluminum wheels. The standard 18″ wheels are also aluminum, but they have removable aero covers which add about 5% to the range.
Announcing Four New Exciting Colors!
Orange Peel Orange
Micro-Scratched Silver
Runny Red
Peeling Purple
The availability of colors is what helped make owning a Tesla so uniquely personal. Limited color availability just means that your Tesla will look like so many others on the road in that same color.
Jeep found that out when they limited the color availability on their Grand Cherokee Laredo to only four colors. Laredo buyers did not step up to the Limited or higher, and more pricey, levels of trim where color availability was greater.
Why screw around with paint at all, why not offer the DeLorean edition with stainless steel skin – after all the Model X already has gullwing doors.
That’s actually a good idea. These would look hella cool with that kind of finish.
Make paint a ‘dealer installed option’? Like door panels and center consoles.
That might not be a bad option. Some of the people using Teslas in drag racing are stripping out the interiors and trunk linings to increase performance.
The main difference is people are lining up to buy Teslas, while GM had to find customers for many of their cars.
Completely false.
GM makes money. Tesla has not made one penny of profit since they first started.
You don’t turn a profit if you’re not selling automobiles. GM turns out infinitely more vehicles, in a factory (not a circus tent) with correct door panels, and radar guided cruise that doesn’t crash into fire trucks. Oh and 80% of GM vehicles don’t have to be fixed after immediately coming off the production line.
Completely false.
GM makes money. Tesla has not made one penny of profit since they first started.
You don’t turn a profit if you’re not selling automobiles. GM turns out infinitely more vehicles, in a factory (not a circus tent) with correct door panels, and radar guided cruise that doesn’t crash into fire trucks. Oh and 80% of GM vehicles don’t have to be fixed after immediately coming off the production line.
And here I thought it was the incredibly arrogant pot head CEO who is in way over his head and doesn’t have the first clue as to how to manufacture a vehicle. Low and behold it’s the colors silver and black.
This will fix all of the quality issues, panel gaps, bursting into flames, and the jihad against fire trucks.