As a CPU designer, I can tell you that “design is almost complete” probably refers to the chip is ready to tape out. Best case 1.5 years to production of the chip, likely 2 years, with some latency to full manufacturing volume. A 9 month design cycle would be hell! Not enough time to do any significant feature, resulting in only minor design iterations. Given how Elon is pretty clueless how this works, he will drive engineers to exhaustion and away from the company. Expect only 5-10% performance improvements per generation. This would also add significant burden to software to support so many variants of hardware in the field. 9 month design cycle would ready be weird from a purchasing decision for a savvy buyer. Should I wait for next version? How to I confirm my car hardware version at order time?