Tesla to eliminate some paint options to increase production efficiency, gives last chance to order

Tesla is telling customers that it is about to eliminate some paint options for Model S, Model X and Model 3 “in order to increase production, delivery and service efficiency.”

The automaker is offering customers a last chance to order them.

CEO Elon Musk has recently talked about the Fremont factory’s paint shop, which supports the production of all of Tesla’s vehicles, being a bottleneck in Model 3 production.

In order to reduce complexity, Tesla limited the number of paint color options when launching the Model 3.

In June, the automaker ended up adding some paint options almost a year into production, but now they are walking them back to reduce the options again.

Tesla is sending out an email to reservation holders and potential buyers about the removal of “Metallic Silver” and “Obsidian Black ” as paint options from all their online vehicle configurators:

“In order to increase our production, delivery and service efficiency, we will be removing Metallic Silver and Obsidian Black Metallic as paint options from our online vehicle configurators for Model S, Model X and Model 3. This will be effective on Thursday, September 13, 2018, after which Metallic Silver and Obsidian Black Metallic will be offered only as limited edition colors via special request at a cost of $2,000 only until Friday, September 21, 2018.”

But the automaker is instating a phase-out period to leave buyers the opportunity to still order the colors.

They have until Thursday, September 13, 2018 to order them at current cost and then another week to get them as a “special request” for $2,000 instead of the current $1,500 price.

Update: Tesla has also updated the MOdel 3 online configurator to increase the price of the Model 3 Dual Motor AWD again

Electrek’s Take

As we recently reported, Tesla hasn’t been able to get Model 3 production back to over 5,000 units this quarter.

The move should help them facilitate the ramp-up at the paint shop and increase production.

But as Tesla mentioned in the email, it’s not just about production, it’s also about “delivery and service efficiency.”

We reported this weekend on how Tesla has been changing its strategy by building cars in batches and matching orders for quicker delivery.

Fewer paint options are also helpful for that.

While it’s a bummer for customers, it would be hard to complain if it actually helps Tesla producing and delivering cars quicker, which has also been a problem.

I won’t be complaining since it actually increases the value of my Obsidian Black Model 3. Thanks Tesla.