Tesla Model 3: Elon Musk Gives an Update on Blockbuster First Week of Pre-Orders
The first cars won't be delivered until late 2017.
— -- One week after Tesla's mass market Model 3 was unveiled, CEO Elon Musk said the automaker has racked up an astounding 325,000 pre-orders for the vehicle -- the first of which aren't scheduled to be delivered until late next year.
"Over 325k cars or ~$14B in preorders in first week. Only 5% ordered max of two, suggesting low levels of speculation," Musk tweeted today.
Tesla requires a $1,000 deposit for people to secure their spot in line for the mid-sized sedan. At the unveiling last week, the company said more than 115,000 pre-orders were placed for the Model 3 earlier that day -- even before those people set eyes on the new $35,000 vehicle.
The unveiling Thursday night was part one of the reveal, Musk has said, noting that he plans to reveal "part two" at a later date. Over the weekend, he teased on Twitter the next glimpse could show some changes to the interior of the vehicle.
"Wait until you see the real steering controls and system for the 3. It feels like a spaceship," Musk said.
On the design front, the Model 3 fits into the Tesla family with sleek lines and boasts a roof area with a continuous pane of glass, giving the five adults it can seat extra headroom and the feeling of having more space, Musk said.
The key metric many people were waiting for was range per charge. The Model 3 can go 215 miles on a single charge. Musk also committed to doubling the number of Tesla's public charging stations from 3,600 to 7,200.
It also includes semi-autonomous driving features, including automatic lane changing and lane keeping, and can accelerate from zero to 60 in less than 6 seconds, Musk said.
"You will not be able to buy a better car, any better car, for less than that," he said.
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