Tag: Elon Musk

Tesla’s Model 3 electric car was the focus of today’s chatter in the wake of the company’s quarterly earnings report, which posted revenue that was stronger than expected ($2.79 billion vs. $2.51 billion, pre-estimated by Thomson Reuters) and a loss per share that was lower than expected ($1.33 vs. $1.82 pre-estimated). In the wake of last week’s first 30 Model 3 deliveries, Tesla said 1,800 net reservations are coming in daily. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the net backlog stands at 455,000 reservations, with 63,000 would-be buyers canceling their reservations (and getting their deposit back).

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As thousands of employees and fans cheered, Tesla CEO Elon Musk drove a red Model 3 electric car onto the stage at the company’s factory in Fremont, Calif., tonight – and then handed over the first 30 cars to customers.

The glitzy ceremony marked a milestone in Tesla’s campaign to produce an electric car targeted at a mass market, with a base price as low as $35,000. It also marked the start of what Musk called “production hell … for at least six months, maybe longer.”

“As the saying goes, ‘If you’re going through hell, keep going,’” he joked.

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The hundreds of thousands of customers who have plunked down deposits for the mass-market Tesla Model 3 electric car are finally getting a glimpse of what they’re buying.

In a pair of tweets, Tesla CEO Elon Musk showed off “Production Unit 1” for the Model 3, which rolled off Tesla’s assembly line in Fremont, Calif., and went through final checkout.

As you can see, the car is basic black. In a follow-up tweet, Musk noted that Ira Ehrenpreis, an early investor in Tesla who’s also on the company’s board, had the rights to the first Model 3 because he was the first to put down a full deposit.

However, Musk added in Twitter shorthand that he “gave those rights to me as my 46th bday present. Tks Ira!”

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