The first Tesla Model 3 set to roll out on Friday
NEW YORK — The first Tesla Model 3 electric car for the masses should come off the assembly line on Friday, with the first deliveries in late July, the company’s CEO says.
CEO Elon Musk, in several Twitter messages early Monday, said the new car passed all U.S. government regulatory requirements for production to begin two weeks ahead of schedule. The company plans to hold a party to hand over the first 30 Model 3s to customers on July 28, Musk wrote in a tweet.
The Model 3 is to start around $35,000 US and, with a $7,500 federal electric car tax credit, could cost $27,500 in the U.S. Tesla said the five-seat car will be able to go about 350 kilometres on a single charge and will be sporty, accelerating from zero to 100 kilometres an hour in about six seconds.
Musk tweeted that the company expects to produce 100 cars in August and more than 1,500 in September. “Looks like we can reach 20,000 Model 3 cars per month in December,” he wrote.
That figure is less than previous estimates. Musk earlier had said Tesla would make 10,000 Model 3s per week by December.
Tesla also said Monday that it delivered about 22,000 vehicles in the second quarter, bringing firsthalf deliveries to about 47,100.
That’s at the low end of the company’s prediction this year of 47,000 to 50,000 Model S sedan and Model X SUV deliveries in the first half, as much as a 71 per cent increase over a year ago.
While second-quarter deliveries rose 53 per cent from a year ago, they still were about 12 per cent below first-quarter deliveries. Tesla said in a statement that second-quarter production was hampered by a severe shortfall of battery packs. Production averaged 40 per cent less than demand until early June, the company said.
Tesla said that as long as global economic conditions don’t worsen considerably, it is confident that second-half Model S and Model X deliveries are likely to exceed deliveries in the first half.
Musk’s tweets about the Model 3 appear to erase doubts that Tesla would be able to meet deadlines for mass-producing the cars, which is key to the company making money. Previously, it has faced delays in getting vehicles to market. The Palo Alto, Californiabased company aims to make 10,000 Model 3s per week in 2018.