Those placing a pre-order could buy up to two cars each, making a $1,000 deposit for each, but it’s refundable. We already knew some of the car’s big stats, such as mileage and price, but Tesla CEO Elon Musk also… The company succeeded in delivering 50,580 cars to customers in 2015 but with the Model 3 coming out in late 2017, the company will have to ramp up production for all 3 models substantially. The tax credits gradually phase out after a company hits 200,000 in USA sales.
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“Thought it would slow way down today, but Model 3 order count is now at 198k”, Musk tweeted during the afternoon, saying the wait time for the vehicle is “growing rapidly”.
Musk said the Model S as well as the X made possible the Model 3.
The Model 3 will be built in the United States at the Tesla “Gigafactory”, which, aside from sounding like the base of operations for a Bond villain, is said to be the largest building on earth in terms of footprint. Musk is only anxious that he might not be able to satisfy the demand for the company’s new electric auto. “Future of electric automobiles looking brilliant!”, he added after computing that the reservation haul could mean about $7.5 billion in income.
Founded in 2003, Tesla first rose to prominence with the Roadster, one of the earliest all-electric sports cars to land on US highways en masse when it launched in 2008.
At $35,000 before incentives, the Model 3 the least expensive of the bunch, by a lot.
A tweet from Musk later on Friday indicated that even Tesla didn’t expect to take quite so many orders.
To meet that challenge, the Tesla factory in Fremont, California will require massive expansion.
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Meeting anticipated interest in the cheaper model will require a sharp increase in Tesla’s production capacity. In the meantime, in addition to building the cars themselves, Tesla will be expanding its Supercharging network to support all these new vehicles. The new electric cars which were reserved just before the unveiling will be coming its way to its buyers when production starts.
