Tesla’s meteoric rise from startup to international EV powerhouse is without doubt one of the automotive trade’s most disruptive tales, regardless of Tesla seeing a major gross sales decline in 2025. The rise, nonetheless, got here with persistent criticism over construct high quality, notably regarding inconsistent panel gaps, misaligned trims, and substandard paint finishes. Early Mannequin S models (2012 to 2015) and even the preliminary Mannequin 3 manufacturing automobiles (2017 to 2018) usually exhibited obtrusive fit-and-finish points.
CEO Elon Musk admitted in 2018 in the course of the Q1 earnings name that the corporate did not perceive manufacturing complexity when launching the Mannequin 3. “We had been large idiots and did not know what we had been doing,” he advised Bloomberg (by way of Enterprise Insider).
Over time, Tesla has made incremental enhancements, pushed by elevated automation and tighter manufacturing controls. The Shanghai Gigafactory, particularly, has been famous for considerably higher high quality than its older Fremont, California counterpart. Automobiles produced in China persistently obtain larger buyer satisfaction scores for construct high quality, a testomony to Tesla’s manufacturing studying curve. However whereas the evolution is notable, the advance hasn’t fully silenced critics, particularly in North America, the place panel alignment and trim inconsistencies stay a sore spot for a lot of consumers.
Panel gaps: a lingering subject or a factor of the previous?
Tesla’s panel gaps have change into one thing of a meme in automotive circles, however are they nonetheless warranted in 2025? The reply is a certified “generally.” Current critiques and buyer stories recommend that whereas the corporate has improved, inconsistencies persist — particularly in autos constructed at Fremont.
Third-party panel fitment analyses additionally level to a combined bag. Sandy Munro, a widely known manufacturing guide and web character, praised the engineering of the Mannequin Y however criticized its early panel fitment. Later variations of the identical automotive confirmed enchancment, indicating Tesla is addressing these points — simply not uniformly.
Moreover, Tesla’s now hard-to-sell Cybertruck has attracted consideration not just for its design but in addition for inconsistent physique panel alignment, as famous by a number of early reviewers and homeowners on platforms like YouTube and Reddit in early 2024. These high quality management issues recommend that regardless of technological innovation, Tesla nonetheless battles with the basics of automotive craftsmanship.
Has Tesla outgrown its manufacturing rising pains?
Tesla’s build-quality challenges are partly rooted in its Silicon Valley DNA. Not like legacy automakers with over a century of manufacturing refinement, Tesla has prioritized pace and innovation over conventional high quality benchmarks. Nonetheless, as Tesla matures, the corporate is more and more specializing in manufacturing high quality. Gigafactories in Berlin and Austin, Texas have launched new manufacturing methods like single-piece castings and structural battery packs, lowering the variety of components — and subsequently the alternatives for misalignment.
Moreover, Tesla’s vertical integration offers it higher management over high quality than many conventional automakers. However execution stays key. Whereas short-lived improvements like Tesla’s Giga Press castings simplify meeting and scale back variation factors, panel alignment nonetheless is determined by calibration, human oversight, and high quality assurance processes that Tesla remains to be refining.
The model’s latest transfer towards a extra automated high quality assurance construction at Fremont might assist alleviate these points. However till Tesla applies these larger requirements throughout all its factories and fashions persistently, inconsistent panel gaps and misalignment will stay a sticking level for each clients and critics.