Tesla hints at when its $35,000 Model 3 will actually arrive
- Tesla released its first-quarter earnings report on Wednesday, and hinted at when the $35,000 base model of its Model 3 sedan will become available.
- In the report, the company said it expects to start making around 5,000 Model 3 vehicles per week "in about two months," at which point it will make new options available Model 3 customers.
- "After achieving a production rate of 5,000 per week, we will begin offering new options such as all-wheel-drive and the base model with a standard-sized battery pack," the company said.
Tesla released its first-quarter earnings report on Wednesday, and hinted at when the $35,000 base model of its Model 3 sedan will become available.
In the report, Tesla said it expects to start making around 5,000 Model 3 vehicles per week "in about two months," so around July. After the company reaches that threshold, it said it will make new options available to Model 3 customers.
"After achieving a production rate of 5,000 per week, we will begin offering new options such as all-wheel-drive and the base model with a standard-sized battery pack," the company said.
Tesla states on its website that it would roll out the option for the standard battery Model 3 in late 2018, but it was unclear when the company would actually begin production given the delays.
The Model 3 was touted as a more affordable alternative to Tesla's high-end sedan, the Model S, with a $35,000 base price that would make it competitive with mass-market electric vehicles like the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Bolt. But customers who have the option to configure their Model 3 can only purchase the long-range version with rear-wheel drive, which starts at $49,000.
In April, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company would likely start producing the dual-motor, all-wheel-drive, version of the Model 3 in July. Musk was responding to a Twitter user who claimed his Model 3 "has been sitting in the configuration for months waiting on" the dual-motor option and asked when Tesla would start producing it.
Tesla had planned to make 5,000 Model 3 vehicles per week by the end of 2017 when it launched the vehicle in July, but it adjusted that goal after making just 2,425 Model 3s during the fourth quarter. The company achieved a significant increase in its Model 3 production rate during the first quarter of 2018, but failed to reach its goal of 2,500 vehicles per week. In an April letter to Tesla employees, Musk said he expected the company to be able to produce 6,000 Model 3 vehicles per week by the end of June.