I wouldn't say they are laughably behind. Projects do get delayed. My own projects got delayed by multiple months. The California high speed rail is 3 years delayed ! Its better to do it right than to just hurry things.
Tesla bet the farm on revolutionizing auto manufacturing while seemingly ignoring much of what other manufacturers have learned over the years.[1] Long-term, elements of that bet could pay pay off. But right now? They're still struggling to scale up Model 3 production. And that's for a car that was literally designed to be less complex to manufacturer, with fewer, simpler parts relative to the Model S and X. It doesn't matter that their manufacturing approach might be more efficient in the future when everything is working perfectly if they can't meet their bills this year.
No other manufacturer has these kinds of prolonged production problems. They meet significantly higher production targets and with fewer quality control issues. If Tesla doesn't show significant progress this year (both on production targets and lowering their burn rate), they're going to be in serious trouble. Most likely, we'll end up seeing Tesla have to hire contract manufacturers like Magna Steyr to build complete cars.
Personally, I'd be fine with that. It'd give Tesla its best chance to entrench itself in the EV market before the traditional automakers step get involved. They, for one, won't have similar problems. I genuinely want Tesla to succeed, but it's become abundantly clear that they don't know how to find a way out of "production hell."
0. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tesla-results/tesla-puts-...
1. https://www.forbes.com/sites/joannmuller/2016/08/04/tesla-mo...
Do you have $230 million dollars payment due in half-a-year, and $920 million due in a few months after that?
> Its better to do it right than to just hurry things.
Sure it is. But the CEO has to keep the bills paid, and the bill is about to come due. I think its reasonable for people to feel worried right now.
Elon has managed to scrounge up money out of nowhere before. The Model 3 reservation system raised $300 million nearly instantly for instance. So these aren't unfathomable numbers at all.
But its a risk.