Previous referral-program prizes included a $1,200 credit toward a home charging station, an invite to the Model 3 reveal, and Model X and Model S cars.
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The voting will be followed by a short presentation by CEO Musk, after which he will take questions from the audience, according to Electrek. “It will still be cheap, and far cheaper than gasoline, but it won’t be free unless you buy [an optional charging] package”. The winners referred more than five people in Tesla’s vehicle referral program. The 15 inch touchscreen is a small downgrade as opposed to the 17 inch touchscreen that came with Model S and X. The Autopilot hardware is standard, and all safety features will be active automatically. So, starting from the bottom to the top, anyone who manages at least one more successful referral than the initial one will receive a Tesla Moab Weekender Bag matching their car’s interior. It’s to be noted that Mr. Lyon has been a loyal Tesla customer and also owns the Roadster and S models.
Musk argued this was necessary to keep the purchase price low on the Model 3, which is expected to travel 215 miles between full charges. If the company can’t get things right on just a few thousand models per month, imagine how bad things will be when the company tries to scale things to several times that amount.
Mr. Musk said: “The most important point I want to make is … that we’ve realized that the true difficulty and where the greatest potential lies is in building the factory”.
Previously, Model X owners had complained that the falcon wing doors, that are supposed to open upwards and then swing down, don’t always open or close.
The Model 3 has yet to enter production, however the all-electric midsize sedan has already attracted huge pre-sales interest.
Tesla must fund as much as $2.25 billion in capital spending Musk has forecast for this year, mainly to equip its factories and suppliers to build the Model 3. All Model 3 cars will include support for Tesla’s high-speed Supercharging network, and by the end of 2017 when deliveries start commencing, Tesla states that it will have a total of 7,200 Superchargers, double the number available today.
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Balch was also confident that the Bolt would beat the Model 3 to market, even arguing that stories about Tesla’s electric vehicle were actually helping the Bolt.
