TESLA DELIVERS 1ST LOWER- COST ELECTRIC CAR
Tesla Inc. has finally made its longpromised affordable electric car. But it could take years to get it to all the people who want to buy it.
Tesla delivered the Model 3 small car to its first 30 customers — all employees — at a company party Friday night. CEO Elon Musk said Tesla will build the cars as fast as it can, but acknowledged that it will be tough to reach his goal of making 500,000 cars next year. Fourteen- year- old Tesla has never made more than 100,000 cars in a year.
“We’re going to go through at least six months of manufacturing hell,” Musk told reporters Friday at Tesla’s Fremont factory.
With its $ 35,000 starting price — half the cost of Tesla’s previous models — and range of up to 310 miles, the Model 3 could bring hundreds of thousands of customers into the automaker’s fold, taking it from a niche luxury brand to the mainstream.
Musk said around 500,000 people worldwide have already put down a $ 1,000 deposit to reserve a Model 3. People ordering a car now likely won’t get it until late 2018. Cars will go first to employees and customers on the West Coast.
The Model 3 has long been part of Tesla’s plans. In 2006, Musk said Tesla would eventually build “affordably priced family cars” after establishing itself with high- end vehicles like the Model S, which starts at $ 69,500. This is the first time many Tesla workers will be able to afford a Tesla.
“It was never our goal to make expensive cars,” Musk said. “If you’re trying to make a difference in the world, you also need to make cars people can afford.”