Tesla's biggest competitor pointed out an important caveat to reserving the Model 3
GM is Tesla's biggest rival when it comes to mass-produced electric vehicles, and it's not impressed with all the hype surrounding Tesla's Model 3 after Elon Musk's company racked up nearly 276,000 reservations since last Thursday.
At an electric drivetrain event for the upcoming all-electric Chevy Bolt Tuesday, GM spokesman Fred Ligouri said GM doesn't care about the massive interest in the Model 3 that Tesla has been glorifying over the past few days, Autoblog reports.
"We haven't taken any [pre-orders]. We don't need to to begin building our products. We're really excited to offer it when it goes into retail production at the end of this year to those that have expressed interest and we'll work through our great network of dealerships to get them to customers." Ligouri said when asked about pre-orders for the Bolt, according to Autoblog.
Though at $37,500, the Bolt has a higher starting price than the $35,000 Model 3, the Bolt is expected to go on sale much before the Model 3, giving it the upper-hand in this situation.
Ligouri's comment was a jab at Tesla's projected manufacturing schedule for the Model 3. It could be up to another two years before Tesla delivers the Model 3. Tesla lets customers reserve a spot in line to buy the Model 3 for $1,000, which some see as a way for it to generate enough revenue to start producing the vehicle. (It's been compared to a Kickstarter project, after all.) Tesla says sales of its pricey Model S and Model X cars actually help pay for the Model 3 production.
Still, Chevy's Bolt hasn't drummed up the same kind of hype and attention Tesla's Model 3 has. Besides, the Model 3 does sound a lot better on paper.