That would help get the Model 3, Tesla’s lower-cost vehicle, into customers’ hands more quickly. While that sounds well and good, Tesla has been quite open with the fact that it doubts it’ll hit the Model 3’s July 1st, 2017 production kickoff date. Not only is that multiple times what other model cars Tesla has produced in 2015, the company is also now talking about one million motors of the new Model 3 by 2020.
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Since Tesla’s Model 3 will have a starting price of $35,000, Musk confessed that he wanted their next lineup to be more pocket friendly, wherein every consumer would be able to afford their own electric auto.
But the electric-car company has pulled ahead by two years its plan to ramp up annual production of its three-vehicle lineup – including the Tesla Model S sedan and the Model X crossover – to 500,000 by 2018.
The aggressive push is a response to the widespread interest in its mass-market Model 3, which Tesla claimed was “the biggest consumer product launch ever”. Shares of Tesla stock surged as much as seven percent in after-hours trading following the announcement. Tesla’s vice presidents of manufacturing and production recently stepped down.
For Tesla, though, that’s just another bump into its inevitably rocky road. The manufacturer plans on delivering 80,000 to 90,000 electric vehicles by year’s end. That was lower than expected, largely due to the Model X delays.
In the meantime, Telsa reported revenues of US$1.6 billion in the first quarter, which were in line with analysts’ forecasts.
The company says that in the first week of taking orders for the Model 3, it received 325,000 deposits.
Given that this includes the expansion of Model 3 and updates to its Model S, this is a fairly hefty ambition.
“To the best manufacturing people in the world, we want you to come join our company”.
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Tesla also said it remains on plan to make the first battery cells at its Gigafactory in Q4 2016, and that it is “adjusting our plans there to accommodate our revised build plan”.
