Tesla recently unveiled its $35,000 Model 3 and opened up the ability for customers to reserve the affordable electric vehicle. First started in 2003, Tesla built just 50,000 cars in 2015, but has set a target of 500,000 a year by 2020.
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The Tesla Model S electric sedan will reportedly receive an update that includes lightly refreshed styling and upgrades for the interior. The reservation is also not an order, as there are still a number of other issues, including vehicle configuration, purchase agreement, title and taxes, to work through.
On the design front, the Model 3 fits into the Tesla family with sleek lines and boasts a roof area with a continuous pane of glass, giving the five adults it can seat extra headroom and the feeling of having more space, Musk said. These pre-orders represent potential sales of over $14 billion. That being said, what concerns us is the fact that within a week from its unveil the auto already received over 325,000 pre-orders, which though sounds impressive, is still a hard task for Tesla to fulfil all those requests in a timely manner. “This interest has spread completely organically”, the company said in its blog.
With more than 325,000 reservations to date, it’s overwhelmingly clear that the Tesla Model 3 has what it takes to become a mainstream success, provided of course that Tesla can actually get its manufacturing capabilities to keep pace with demand.
“It is not possible to ship to all regions simultaneously because regulators in each part of the world have slightly different production requirements”, Tesla said in a March 21 blog post. “We expect the final Model 3 reservation disclosure on Wednesday, per management; however, we continue to view fundamental upside scenarios in the name as more limited given the recent stock appreciation”.
Earlier this week, Tesla said it delivered 14,820 Model S and Model X cars during the first quarter, missing its initial target of 16,000.
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In response to the optimistic market reaction to Tesla’s Model 3, the company is looking to boost its production plans.
