Tesla Loses Lead In EV Quality Among Peers: Auto Expert Pins It On Removal Of Stalks For Buttons

EV giant Tesla Inc TSLA has lost its edge in terms of vehicle quality over EVs made by rival OEMs, as per automotive industry consultant JD Power.

What Happened: As per J.D. Power’s 2024 U.S. Initial Quality Study, gas and diesel-powered vehicles have an average of 180 problems per 100 vehicles, much lower than EVs which face 266 problems per 100 (PP100) vehicles on average.

"Owners of cutting edge, tech-filled BEVs and PHEVs are experiencing problems that are of a severity level high enough for them to take their new vehicle into the dealership at a rate three times higher than that of gas-powered vehicle owners," Frank Hanley, senior director of auto benchmarking at J.D. Power, said.

Tesla Drops Lead: Tesla and Rivian’s quality now stands at 266 PP100, implying that the quality disparity between Tesla and non-Tesla EVs is closed this year. Tesla had performed better than others in the past.

The reason, the consultant says, is the removal of traditional feature controls such as turn signals and wiper stalks, which were not well received by customers.

Tesla did not immediately respond to Benzinga's request for comment. 

While Tesla started making changes in design to its Model S and X vehicles initially, this year it introduced changes to its cheapest offering, the Model 3 sedan, Bloomberg’s Keith Naughton said on television. The changes are now impacting the mainstream buyer and the mainstream buyers do not like their turn signal stocks to be replaced by buttons on the steering wheel, he said.

However, the buttons by itself do not pose a problem, the auto reporter said. “The buttons work if you find them but how do you find them when there is an emergency situation,” Naughton said in an episode of Bloomberg Technology on Friday.

Quality Ranking Across Auto Brands: Overall, JD Power ranked Ram the highest among auto brands in initial quality with a score of 149 problems per hundred vehicles. Ram is followed closely by GM’s Chevrolet and South Korean automaker Hyundai.

Among premium brands, however, Porsche ranks at the top in initial quality, followed by Toyota’s Lexus and Hyundai’s Genesis.

Model 3 Refresh: Tesla unveiled the refreshed Model 3 in the U.S. in January. The company initially listed two variants of the car, namely the rear-wheel drive and long-range. The refreshed Model 3 Performance variant was added to the order website months later in April.

Tesla reported an 8.5% year-on-year decline in first-quarter deliveries with 386,810 vehicles delivered across the world, marking the first time Tesla has reported a drop in quarterly deliveries in about four years since the second quarter of 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted production. The company attributed the decline in volume partially to the production ramp of the refreshed Model 3 at its Fremont factory.

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Read More: Rivian Enhances Older R1 Models With New Software Update Following Gen-2 Unveiling

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