Media Consensus Turns Negative On Tesla Model 3 Delay - Headlines Turn Ugly

Torque News has done a survey of the media's news reports over the past week or so regarding the Tesla Model 3 delay fiasco. If you have not followed the recent developments, the Model 3 is now in its third month of delays and Tesla is only shipping a tiny fraction of the volume Elon Musk promised. Worse, the company appears to be engineering the car on the fly to shove some out the door. But we don't want you to take our word for it. Here is a compilation of the latest news reports on the Model 3 from a wide variety of media, including EV advocacy publications.

Autoblog: "Tesla Model 3 Spied Near Detroit - And It Appears to Be Dead."
Autoblog's November 3rd story focuses on one of the first Model 3 cars seen outside of California. The story details what appears to be a Model 3 that has locked out its owner and/or won't start. They try a jump-start. Yes, there are images and witness accounts.

Jalopnik: "Hell" Threatens Its Future."
Jalopnik's November 2nd story walks readers through the failed Model 3 launch by Tesla and the "Hell" the title refers to is from a quote by Elon Musk who described the current Tesla production situation using that word. Jalopnik found original sources such as an engineering dean from Kettering University in this long story detailing Tesla's sad state of affairs.

Wired: "OK Elon Musk, What's Wrong With the Model 3?"
In WIred's November 2nd story, the pro-EV publication focuses not just on the Model 3's production issues but also asks about the company's "worst-ever quarterly results." The two topics are related, but Wired's tone is carefully balanced to be not overly negative on Tesla. Read it yourself and see if the rose colored glasses still make any sense.

Extreme Tech: "Tipping-over Point for Tesla: Great Cars, Weak Production Lines."
Extreme Tech's November 2nd headline echoes our own sentiments when it comes to Tesla. Great cars when they work, and if you can find one. Extreme Tech points out that Tesla has lost a quarter of its market value since September (at least it had when they published) and shows a pretty gloomy stock graph. Extreme Tech was also one of the few publications, along with Torque News, who have noticed and published the facts about the Chevy Bolt's fast pace of growth compared to Tesla. Imagine, facts in a news story. How novel!

Teslarati: "Tesla Dialed Back Parts Orders By 40%, Says Taiwanese Supplier."
This October 27th story by Teslarati was a short one, but had pretty powerful facts. Tesla isn't betting on its launch to succeed according to plan, and its parts orders being cut back are proof.

We could keep going with the Tesla Model 3 news headlines, but we're sure you get the point. To be sure, there are still plenty of fawning EV advocacy media outlets pumping out the Tesla Model 3 love stories. What's new is that a wide segment of the media is starting to see the facts about Tesla as more newsworthy than the hype. We welcome their company.