Elon Musk promised, and delivered. There have been nearly 400,000 pre-orders, with a deposit of $1000 each, since the Model 3 was introduced over a year ago. The promise was that the first units would be delivered this month. There's the first one.
Produced at Tesla's Fremont, Calif., factory, the first Model 3 was originally intended for Ire Ehrenpreis, a member of Tesla's board of directors. But as a birthday present for Elon Musk, who turned 46 at the end of last month, Ire Ehrenpreis ceded the right to keep the first Model 3 to the CEO and founder of the brand.
Moreover, the first models will be delivered to the responsible of the brand, in order to be able to "clean up" before delivery to the general public. According to Musk, production will grow exponentially; the first 30 copies will be delivered by the 28th of July, and as of December the objective is to produce 20 thousand units per month.
First Production Model 3 pic.twitter.com/TCa2NSUNI3
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 9, 2017
Keyword: simplify
While effectively the newest model in the range, the Model 3 is sort of a simpler and more compact variant of the Model S, in order to be able to meet the promised base price of $35,000 (in the US).
Even so, the new model will be able to fulfill the sprint from 0-100 km/h in less than 6 seconds, while the autonomy is 346 km (estimated). Check here the main technical details of the new Tesla Model 3.