Traditionally manufacturers add incremental improvements to a cars design over the duration of its lifespan leaving much of the underlying electrical and mechanical systems the same as when it was first released. It’s a system that allows significant testing and ironing out of flaws before improvements make their way through to the customer. However it looks like Tesla are about to turn this concept on its head with a recent Tweet from Elon Musk responding about a potential paid upgrade path from current owners who’d like a factory upgrade to the new hardware. Musk claims that major updates will occur every 12 to 18 months which is much more inline with a tech company than that of a car manufacturer.
Given the electronic and tech nature of the cars produced by Tesla, a shorter product development life cycle makes perfect sense as it allows the company to implement and improve at a drastically quicker rate than competitors. The down side is that as a customer you won’t be able to lay claim to the cutting edge throne for a prolonged period of time and the thoughts of “What if I just waited a little longer” are sure to play an impact on purchasing decisions.
