Tesla asks Model 3 buyers to confirm their orders
Tesla has invited all Model 3 reservation holders in the U.S. and Canada to confirm their orders.
That’s welcome news for customers, many of whom placed US$1,000 deposits to reserve the electric sedan in the spring of 2016 — and have been fretting about which colour to choose ever since.
It’s even more welcome for Tesla’s balance sheet. When a customer confirms their order, they pay another US$2,500 before the company begins building their car.
Say, for example, 100,000 people in the U.S. and Canada were to confirm this week. That would be a US$250-million injection of much-needed cash in the final, frantic days of a critical quarter.
Once the US$2,500 confirmation is placed, customers have three days to back out before that deposit becomes non-refundable. While not given a specific delivery date at the time their order is placed, buyers who confirm their order are being told in an email to expect to receive their Model 3 “in as soon as two to four months.”
The raw number of reservations is constantly in flux as some people cancel and others reserve for the first time, raising questions about demand and what the true backlog is; the most recent estimates put it at about 400,000 reservations.
Invitations to order the Model 3 had been going out in waves based on when customers placed their reservation.
Currently, customers can choose between the Model 3 Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive, the Model 3 Long Range Dual-Motor AllWheel Drive, and the Model 3 Performance. The base model with a cheaper battery — which starts at $35,000 — isn’t yet available to order. Customers who want the standard-range battery can decide to order a higher-priced version of the car, continue to wait, or cancel their fully refundable reservation.