Tesla Model 3 Production Will Start Today

Sam McEachern
by Sam McEachern

The Tesla Model 3 is expected to officially enter production today before a “handover party” for the first 30 customers is held later this month.

In a series of tweets sent out Sunday night, Musk said he was “expecting to complete SN1 on Friday,” (that’s serial number one) before handing the first cars over to their new owners on July 28th. It appears as though just 30 cars will be built in July, but Musk said production “grows exponentially,” and that 100 Model 3s would be built in July and a further 1500 would be built in September.

Musk also said he expects monthly Model 3 output to sit at around 20,000 units by December of this year. Production could reach 500,000 units per year by 2018, with Tesla having received over 400,000 pre-orders for the small sedan and counting. Tesla’s Gigafactory will have a maximum annual output of around 500,000 lithium-ion battery packs per year by 2020, the company claims.

SEE ALSO: Early Tesla Model 3 Buyers Get to Pick Two Options

The Model 3 is Tesla’s first-ever mass market car and with a $35,000 sticker price, it will allow many buyers who were previously priced out of a Tesla to get behind the wheel of one of the electric automaker’s cars. It’s expected to carry a maximum driving range of around 215-miles, however versions with larger battery packs and greater range will eventually arrive. Musk has said the first cars to roll off the assembly line will be rear-wheel drive models and customers will only have two options to choose from: body color and wheels. Once the production process has been smoothed over, all-wheel drive models and additional options will become available.

Additional info on the Tesla Model 3 should become available once the first customers take delivery later this month.

Sam McEachern
Sam McEachern

Sam McEachern holds a diploma in journalism from St. Clair College in Windsor, Ontario, and has been covering the automotive industry for over 5 years. He conducts reviews and writes AutoGuide's news content. He's a die-hard motorsports fan with a passion for performance cars of all sorts.

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