In general, car owners don’t hesitate to get on the horn to their dealers, and/or car companies themselves, to report and demand satisfaction about the problems -- and just plain bad designs -- they’ve encountered. But not Tesla owners, especially those who own the Model S (pictured below), whose Consumer Reports owner satisfaction rating at the end of 2017 was the highest in the industry -- 90 percent! (Porsche was in second place at 85 percent, and it also has a lot of fanatic buyers who believe the brand can do no wrong.) For the Model S as a whole, satisfaction is five out of five, but at the same time the car’s predicted reliability rating is only two out of five. Model S reliability is up in 2018, but the 2017 model year got a dismal one out of five. The Model 3’s ratings are similarly high.
Why Tesla Fanaticism Is Ultimately Bad for the Brand
Publish date
December 05, 2018 (ET)Channel
Auto Marketing InSitesI recently looked over a friend’s new Tesla Model 3 (pictured at top) and pointed out a couple of flaws. The trunk was misaligned and the paint had visible “orange peel” (textured like the skin of an orange). But my friend is one of several people I know who are fanatics for the brand; who counted down the days until their Tesla was delivered and thrilled to its charms. Which are considerable, I agree. I drove that Model 3, and it was huge fun, totally exhilarating. But c’mon, it’s a car, not a mythical chariot. Tesla builds the full-sized Model S sedan, the Model X SUV and the compact Model 3, all battery electric cars. Its vehicles have flaws -- Tesla is hardly unique there -- but sometimes there are too many to be ignored.