Tesla will start delivering its much-anticipated Model 3 EV this month, as promised. CEO Elon Musk tweeted that the company will have a “handover party for [the] first 30 customer Model 3s on the 28th.” He added that production will grow exponentially, “so August should be 100 cars and September above 1,500.” By December, the company will be building 20,000 cars per month, he said in a subsequent tweet. The goal is to produce up to 10,000 cars per week by 2018.
Musk tweeted that the “Model 3 passed all regulatory requirements for production two weeks ahead of schedule.” That’s good news, because Tesla was late with the production of its last EV, the Model X, and had some production glitches with its with rear seats, those weird doors and the parking brake. At a recent shareholder meeting, he admitted that Tesla tried to do too much with the first version of the Model X, and wouldn’t repeat that mistake with the Model 3 (and upcoming Model Y).
The EV maker reportedly has a backorder of nearly 400,000 for the Model 3, which starts at $35,000 and has an average order price of around $42,000. If Tesla meets its production goals, the Model 3 could become one of the top twenty best-selling vehicles in the US in 2018, ahead of stalwarts like the Hyundai Elantra and Nissan Sentra.
Source: Engadget
