It's a halo car...
Car companies build halo car to get consumers attention to their brand and to sell other models.
Nissan didn't have to build the GT-R R35 but it did because it's a halo car.
Another example is Toyota LFA.
I doubt they'd allow that judging by what happened the last time they were featured.
The team at the Grand Tour are going to have to get used electric cars, since I expect all the fastest cars will be electric from this point. If they can't get a loaner car, they'll borrow or buy one, they've done that before.
Product design / R&D is also different resource pool to manufacturing (well, at least in my mind it is). Manufacturing issues may have forced redesigns but they'll need to keep working on the next thing; competition certainly won't stand still.
That only works if the Tesla don't bother to deliver the 1,000 'Founder' Roadsters, or Tesla have a way of making them for free.
In two years they'll have a new thing to take deposits on. Stack the pre-orders, roll to the next announcement, deliver the last thing, then do it all over again. They're floating a lot of cheap financing this way.
In the meantime, the approach of announcements & pre-orders keeps their stock charged, which they can also abuse for financing if necessary.
It's precarious and dangerous (inevitably stock market decline & recession), and it works extremely well while it works.
More generally, my point was that producing a high-end vehicle with (most likely) much better margins for the company than, say, the Model X, would subsidize advancements in their more accessible options.
Different teams. Model 3 design & engineering was completed in July.
The folks working on the Roadster design would've otherwise been idle (or mostly idle except for maybe any refinements that might've been necessary due to production process limitations/issues) during Model 3 production ramp.
I'd place good money on them having already produced the first draft of this design as part of the whole lineup remodel that did away with the Model S's nose-cone prior to the Model X launch. i.e figuring out a "Tesla" design language that worked across the S, X, 3, and R (and perhaps the Semi, to some degree)
edit: Ford didn't start Jaguar.
Except make enough Model 3's, they don't do that.
> edit: Ford didn't start Jaguar.
I don't even know what this even mean. Nor do I understand what the original comment of yours mean. It doesn't make any sense and it doesn't seem like you are well verse with cars or automakers at all...
What fiasco? It was obvious from the start that their schedule was wildly optimistic. But that's probably just Elons way of pushing workers as hard as possible.
It's way too early to call the Model 3 a success or failure. Of course it takes a few months to ramp up and stabilize production. It's their first truly mass produced car, and there's a lot of differences from their previous model. Not to mention that they're using a brand new battery.
Let's wait a year to call the Model 3.
We're a long way from fiasco territory, sure, but it's also pretty clear Tesla are still quite a way off from getting their production process under control.
Your explanation is laughable when applying it to other companies.
"Oh sorry, your iPhone X is delayed till next year. We just gave you the best case timeline. You knew that right?"
Tesla is good at high-end, low volume products. But the Model 3 production fiasco shows they don't know how to do what Detroit and Wolfsburg and Toyota City do. This is in a way a step backwards. Tesla is going back to targeting the 1%.
There are lots of little supercar companies. It's not that hard to build an electric supercar in tiny volume. I know some people who've done it. It's fun, and there are idiots with too much money who'll buy the thing. But it's a waste of engineering talent which should be getting the volume product out the door.