It\u2019s finally here: The Model 3, Tesla\u2019s $35,000 electric gamechanger. A single black Model 3 rolled off the production line Friday with a\u00a0serial number all its own,\u00a0kicking off a company-defining six months. The car will belong to Elon Musk, Tesla\u2019s CEO and co-founder, who shared images of it\u00a0on Twitter over the weekend.<\/p>\n
Tesla has already taken in roughly half a billion dollars in Model 3 deposits, at $1,000 apiece, and its proposed ramp-up schedule would have it rivaling well-established U.S. market\u00a0peers like BMW and Mercedes by year\u2019s end.\u00a0The only thing standing between Tesla and being\u00a0the world\u2019s first\u00a0mass-market electric carmaker is proving it can build, deliver, and service\u00a0enormous numbers of these vehicles\u2014without sacrificing quality.<\/p>\n
One down, millions more to go.<\/p>\n
The production acceleration will be slow at first. Tesla plans to hand over the keys to 30 cars at a launch celebration on July 28. It then envisions building 100 cars\u2014less than three a day\u2014for the month of August, according to a series of Twitter posts\u00a0by Musk last week. September will bring another 1,500 cars, and the ramp will build to\u00a0a rate of 20,000 cars a month by December, Musk said. It\u2019s an aggressive schedule that will more than double Tesla\u2019s total production rate in six months, and then quintuple it by the end of next year.<\/p>\n
If Tesla achieves all of Musk\u2019s targets, it will build more\u00a0battery-powered\u00a0cars next year\u00a0than\u00a0all of the world\u2019s automakers combined in 2016.\u00a0U.S.\u00a0sales under Musk\u2019s 2018 targets\u00a0would significantly outpace the BMW 3 Series and the Mercedes C-Class, the best-selling small luxury cars in the country.<\/p>\n
Tesla, by\u00a0tradition, delivers\u00a0the first\u00a0new car off the line to the first customer to pay full price once the car officially goes on sale.\u00a0Musk\u2019s collection includes the first Tesla Roadster and the first Model X\u2014but not the first Model S. That trophy belongs to Tesla board of directors member Steve Jurvetson, who told the Chicago Tribune in 2010 that he scored\u00a0the first of Tesla\u2019s flagship sedans by\u00a0writing out a check just before a\u00a0board meeting\u00a0and tossing it across the table. The right\u00a0to the first Model 3 was won\u00a0by board member\u00a0Ira Ehrenpreis, who then gifted\u00a0it to Musk for\u00a0his 46th birthday, on June 28.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what we know about what might\u00a0be coming next:<\/p>\n
The rollout begins. Key handoffs will begin in California and move east, focusing first on employees of Tesla and Musk\u2019s\u00a0SpaceX\u00a0rocket company, then on other U.S. reservation holders who stood in line before the car\u2019s unveiling some 15 months ago. People who place new orders today won\u2019t receive their cars until the middle of next year, according to Tesla\u2019s website.<\/p>\n
The carmaker\u00a0will be taking things slowly at first, as it looks\u00a0to avoid the disastrous\u00a0rollout of the Model X, which was marred by mis-aligned\u00a0body panels, software glitches, problems with the falcon wing doors and spaceship-like seats, and a fleet-wide recall tied to\u00a0a seatbelt\u00a0issue. (These faults have largely been addressed, and the Model X is now the fourth best-selling luxury SUV in the U.S.)<\/p>\n
There\u2019s tremendous demand for the Model 3 among Tesla\u2019s 30,000 employees\u2014most of whom are unable to afford the pricier Model S and Model X. Musk is putting that interest to use, releasing the first several thousand Model 3s to employee reservation holders. Any problems identified during the early rollout can be quickly addressed at the factory.<\/p>\n
Features are being stripped down.\u00a0Over the past few months, Musk has consistently tried to downplay expectations for new features. The car that rolled off the production line on Friday\u00a0shouldn\u2019t stray far from the original prototype\u00a0unveiled in March 2016. There will only be one display\u2014the car\u2019s 15-inch touchscreen\u2014with no additional gauges or heads-up-display projected at\u00a0the windshield.<\/p>\n
Additionally, the dual-motor all-wheel drive and high performance versions of the Model 3 will be delayed for six to nine months to keep initial production as simple as possible.<\/p>\n
New Aero wheels are coming. Tesla was granted a patent on June 6 for this new\u00a0aerodynamic\u00a0wheel face, one of two designs that the company has deployed on the test cars seen driving around the country in recent months. (The other design is shown in the production car above).<\/p>\n
Tesla briefly offered Aero wheels for the Model S in 2013, but they were considered unattractive by many consumers and were quickly pulled from the market. At the time, Tesla said they could boost the car’s range by 3 to 4 percent.<\/p>\n
How far is Tesla\u00a0going with Autopilot for the launch?\u00a0Last October, Musk set some wild timelines for full self-driving capabilities in the Tesla fleet. The company upgraded the hardware suite of its full line-up of cars to eight surround cameras, 12 ultrasonic sensors, a forward radar, and a massively powerful new computer. He said it\u00a0was all the hardware that will be needed for driverless transport. By the end of 2017, Musk said, he hoped to demonstrate a cross-country trip without any driver interaction.<\/p>\n
So far, Tesla\u00a0hasn\u2019t backed off those predictions. For the past nine months, it\u2019s been charging customers an extra $3,000 for an option called\u00a0\u201cFull Self-Driving Capability.\u201d However, the software still hasn\u2019t been released to make any new features available, and to date, the pricey\u00a0option adds no additional\u00a0functionality.<\/p>\n
Musk has dropped a number of hints that those features will start rolling out\u00a0around the launch of the Model 3. In January, I asked him\u00a0at what point \u201cFull Self-Driving Capability\u201d will depart from the \u201cEnhanced Autopilot\u201d features. His response, via a post on Twitter: \u201c3 months maybe, 6 months definitely.\u201d\u00a0Six months would coincide with the July launch.<\/p>\n
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https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=w2_5-bJUEMY&feature=youtu.be<\/p>\n
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Tesla has\u00a0yet to release\u00a0a detailed list of the Model 3\u2019s specs, features, and pricing, more of which will be revealed at the car\u2019s launch party on July 28.\u00a0Here\u2019s what has been disclosed so far:<\/p>\n
The Model 3 goes from zero to 60 miles per hour in 5.6 seconds, according to a spec sheet Tesla published in May.\u00a0That\u2019s faster than the base model\u00a0BMW 3 Series and the Mercedes-Benz C Class, the leading cars in the compact luxury space. The car will be able to drive at least\u00a0215 miles on a single charge, with options to upgrade to a bigger battery.<\/p>\n
Last year, Musk said the company will push for even greater range. The roof is an almost continuous sheet of glass that stretches from the front of the car to the rear to give riders a sense of openness. The layered glass is designed to block UV rays and manage heat.<\/p>\n
All Model 3s will come equipped with hardware for Tesla\u2019s Autopilot features and high-speed Supercharging. Customers will have to pay to use them, though pricing hasn\u2019t been made public. The Model 3 will have two trunks with about 14 cubic feet of combined storage space, and the rear seats will fold down to accommodate longer items.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s comparable to other cars in its class\u00a0but less than half the storage volume of the Model S sedan. The body is made of a mix of lightweight aluminum and cheaper steel, primarily the latter. Tesla\u2019s signature touch-screen control panel will be flipped on its side and shrunk from 17 inches to 15 inches. It handles everything from navigation to speed.<\/p>\n
The traditional instrument panel under the dash is gone entirely.<\/p>\n
The car is designed to fit five adults comfortably, in part by pushing the front passengers forward to provide more legroom in the back seat.\u00a0 Rear-wheel drive is standard, with a future\u00a0option for dual-motor all-wheel drive.\u00a0 Reservation holders\u00a0who want all-wheel drive or other delayed options will be able to defer their purchase without entirely losing their place in line.<\/p>\n
The number of Tesla\u2019s high-speed charging stations will double by the end of the\u00a0year to 10,000. Slower destination chargers will jump from 9,000\u00a0to 15,000.<\/p>\n
The era of the Model 3 has begun. Now it\u2019s time for Tesla to really get to work.<\/p>\n