Elon Musk, Founder and CEO of Tesla, took to Twitter on early Monday morning to share good news about the hotly-anticipated mass-market sedan from the company, the Tesla Model 3.
In a series of four tweets, he quashed contrary rumours and revealed that the Model 3 had, in fact, cleared all the regulatory requirements two weeks ahead of schedule. The company is looking forward to rolling out the first production model, the SN1 (Serial Number 1) later this week on Friday.
He also revealed that the company will hold the handover party for the first 30 customers of the Model 3 on July 28. The ceremony is expected to be held at the company’s manufacturing facility in South Fremont, California.
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The electric-vehicles startup expects to produce around 100 units next month with production being ramped up on an exponential basis. As a result, the company expects to manufacture over 1500 vehicles in September and hopes to reach its target of 20,000 units per month by the end of the year.
The sedan was first revealed in March 2016 with a comparatively modest price tag of $35,000. The model was a run-away success when over 1 Lakh customers put down the booking amount within 24 hours of the unveil. The present tally is estimated to be over 4 Lakh confirmed customers of the Model 3 leading to a waiting period of over a year even when the plant reaches its maximum capacity of 40,000 units per month in 2018.
The car will initially be offered in a single motor variant only, with a dual motor variant expected to be launched later this year. In the base trim, the 3 is expected to have a range of over 346 kms with seating capacity for 5 passengers.
In terms of performance, the single motor variant can complete the 0-100 kmph run in just 6 seconds, with the dual motor variant shaving 0.4 seconds of the said time. The car will also feature the brilliant Tesla Autopilot system with a full-suite of self-driving hardware.
The Model 3 is also expected to be the first offering from the company when it arrives in India. The timeline, however, continues to be unclear.
Musk also took the opportunity to thank the buyers of Tesla vehicles. “It matters to us that you took risk on a new car company. We won’t forget”, he tweeted.