By Karl Peskett.
According to Tesla founder, Elon Musk, fully autonomous vehicles will be ready by the end of 2019.
Tesla Model 3
It’s a bold claim and one that is going to take some doing to bring it to full production. In a podcast recently, Musk said that “the car will be able to find you in a parking lot, pick you up and take you all the way to your destination without an intervention.”
He then added: “I would say I am of certain of that. That is not a question mark.” But the real test is whether buyers are going to trust these vehicles to do that. With plenty of publicity surrounding deaths involving autonomous vehicles, it’s going to take early adopters having enough faith in the technology to buy vehicles with such a system fitted.
But the real kicker to this story is who the podcast was for. Musk sat down with ARK Invest to do this podcast, and the company has shares in Tesla. So, a well-timed podcast announcing the technology is nearly ready, an uptick in share prices and…well, you can fill in the blanks.
Also interesting is the timing. Tesla has just shipped a literal ship-load of Model 3 cars to China, jumping the gun on competitors and lowering its price to dodge tariffs imposed by the country.
The first vehicles to be delivered to customers will be to those who ordered their vehicles before the end of last year, while orders placed this year will arrive in the next few months. Eventually, though, Tesla will have its own factory in China to produce Model 3s.
The ten least reliable cars are…
Here in Australia, we have road tests, reports and a few long-term tests. But we don’t have the same reliability reports as found in the US. Consumer Reports is one organisation that collates data on reliability and it has come up with the ten least reliable vehicles in 2018.
Most of these vehicles aren’t found here, but there are three that we do have in our dealerships. And that means that it’s worth having a closer look at what goes wrong.
Jaguar F-Pace
The list is as follows:
10) VW Atlas
9) Cadillac CTS
8) Alfa Romeo Giulia
7) Kia Cadenza
6) Cadillac Escalade
5) Cadillac CT6
4) Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD
3) Tesla Model X
2) Buick Enclave
1) Jaguar F-PACE
The Giulia is said to not quite have as supple suspension as most owners would like, but the main issues are the electrics, which don’t work or stay working as intended. The engines have also experienced several failures.
The big Tesla SUV also has problems, mostly seeming like they’ve been rushed when building them. Consumer Reports say that the body hardware (those gullwing doors don’t always go up) and the paint work and interior trim have been below par. The in-car electronics sometimes fail and there are noises, rattles and leaks as well. The latter is probably not advisable for an electric car.
But the least reliable vehicle was the Jaguar F-Pace. Complaints included a constant drone from the supercharged 3.0-liter V6, a ride which is too choppy, interior quality that doesn’t live up to its competitors, and the fact that the infotainment system isn’t as good as what you get with some of its rivals. Paying a premium price means you expect a high-end product, but Jaguar’s SUV clearly falls short of expectations.
