You also have two major components of the all-new drivetrain coming on-line, which introduce their own set of issues in an of themselves - the 2.4L Tigershark and the 9-speed automatic. New tooling, new parts, new procedures, new challenges.
Trust me, I know all about making estimates for job completion, only to have circumstances beyond my control throw a wrench into the gears. I've also been on the receiving end of the excrement storm that gets focused on me and my team because of said circumstances - even when they have nothing to do with my team's part of the production. Procurement can't procure parts, vendor can't deliver parts, parts that are delivered are defective, replacement parts are not immediately available, parts ordered by the client are incompatible or incorrect - my team bears the brunt of it, yet we have nothing to do with any of those issues other than identifying that an issue exists and needs to be corrected.
You make an estimate - and that's what it is, an estimate - using the information you have available to you at that time. Should something change, your estimate should be revised if necessary.
And the same bits and pieces are involved.
I won't disagree that it might be prudent to wait until your vehicle has reached a certain milestone before announcing it or showing it - and we all thought that Marchionne's 90-day rule would serve that purpose. Perhaps they've hired marketing and sales folks from the video game industry where such delays occur with even more frequency.
Regarding the durability testing - if I had to venture a guess - THAT'S where the delays are coming from. I was told by an automotive engineer working with a large automaker on a very high-performance vehicle that was eagerly awaited by consumers that the engine would blow during high-speed full-power runs around the track. Over and over again. It takes time to collect the data, analyze the problem, develop a fix, deploy the fix, replace the engine, and test it all over again. Lather, rinse, repeat. Now, did your fix wind up breaking something else? Do the emission controls need to get revised? Is the NVH still within spec?
I agree that it's frustrating - Ralph's

emoticon at the end of his tweet tells me that he's not very happy with the situation, either. I just feel that some of the frustration is coming off as being a tad whiney.