But but but...I thought Google knows everything
I'm banking on exactly that. I don't mind if they decide to make the more profitable tri-motor models first. I just want to be given the chance to upgrade to the tri-motor if that turns out to save me an extra year of waiting.
Tesla should definitely prioritize by distance from the factory.
Yes. And while we're waiting for the Texas factory to be completed, they're welcome to use my backyard.
Although I agree with you that this is perhaps the fairest approach, and Tesla will surely use this approach, every person that originally wanted a Single or Dual and have lower reservation numbers than me that changes to a Tri moves in front of me. I have moved back 4,000 numbers since I made the reservation and I suspect it is all people that have changed their trim. In some respects I am guilty of the same. I changed from Dual to Tri but I ordered in late November (2019) and changed to a tri in early December (also 2019). At that time I doubt I displaced anyone but ended up further back in the Tri-queue. You on the other hand can push me back further. If I had my druthers I would have you keep your trim but I acknowledge that it is better to allow you to change if you want to.
This wouldn't be as big of an issue if they didn't change the priority AFTER the reservations were made. Those who wanted the fastest delivery chose the one they thought would be delivered first.
One of Tesla's cost savings measures seems to very much be standardizing the hell out of things. Creating an assembly line that stamps out 100,000 identical trucks is a lot faster and less expensive than trying to build snowflake building machines. Updating it later to accommodate other configurations or smaller runs where they switch up configurations makes sense when they have more bandwidth.
I formerly worked at a PC manufacturer (starts with "D" and rhymes with "hell") in the factory, and every single order was different from the one before it. My manager joked that we would probably make more mistakes if we had to make 1000 identical ones.
Having fewer choices is one of the things I LOVE about Tesla. Mosts models have only a few choices. Motor, inside / outside color, wheels and Full Self Driving.
Tesla relies heavily on robotic assembly. Robots are exceptionally good at doing the same thing 100,000 times in a row well. People, much less so. You can build a more flexible assembly line with robots, but the simpler you keep it, the faster you can bring it online and the easier it is to troubleshoot issues.
Tesla reminds me a lot of Apple's early approach to the iPhone. For the longest time, Apple only had one iPhone each year. Then it was a big deal when they launched a second one. Even now they have a massive amount of components in common between their phones.
