Tesla Hands Over First Model 3 to Customers

Tesla CEO Elon Musk himself was present to hand over the first 30 Model 3 cars to employees who had booked the car outside the company’s factory in Fremont, California. With orders for half a million Model 3s, he faces a daunting task when it comes to meeting demand. Nevertheless, he promised to rise to the task with an ambitious production schedule at Tesla’s gigafactory in Nevada.

New buyers cannot expect to get a Model before the end of 2018. Tesla hopes to build at least 100 cars in August before production is increased to 1,500 cars in September. The plant is expected to reach maximum capacity from the month of December, form when it is expected to produce 20,000 cars on a monthly basis.

The Model 3 has an entry-level price of USD 35,000 and potential customers can book a car by outing down a refundable deposit of USD 1000.

The Model 3 is expected to be a pathbreaking model with the ability to go from 0-100kph in less than six seconds and to last for over 250 miles or 400 kilometres on just one charge.

Tesla had recently raised USD 1 billion in funding in order to make the technological and infrastructural changes needed to cope with the increase in demand for the new model. With its ambitious production plans, Tesla has reaffirmed its pledge to deliver 500,000 vehicles in 2018 and one million in 2020, when the Gigafactory is slated to attain full capacity. This will be a sharp increase from the 80,000 that was delivered in 2016.