In this blog: It's phenomenal – the world made 325,000 Model 3 reservations in just a week.
Update: 400,000 reservations in two weeks!
Model 3 euphoria started out with camps and lines in front of Tesla's centers around the world at the end of March and in just a week Tesla's first mass EV blew up all expectations with 325,000 reservations in the first week alone...
Tesla admitted they're super surprised and need to rethink and adjust production plans. The whole world is now obsessed with Model 3 and this caused some deep concerns at corporate meetings such as recent Daimler's one. We're putting together a blog about that.
The raging obsession however means a lot of people will probably have to wait more for their Model 3 delivery and it may prove to be quite a challenge for some of them. With the reservation pace we're all witnessing now it can hit half a million reservations very soon – possibly even before April is over. Yeah, it's going to be such a feat to optimize all the plans they had for Model 3's R&D, production and launch.
Good news is Fremont factory's capacity is there to meet it. Tesla installed a new expanded paint facility at the end of 2014 and battery Gigafactory may not be finished, but is already producing batteries (for Powerwall modules mainly so far).
Lessons Tesla learned from Model S & X will greatly help with Model 3 production. The car is not going to have complicated elements such as Model X's falcon wing doors or lots of aluminium panels like the S. Simplifying the production will be key for faster deliveries and with 325,000 reservations in a week (and as updated already 400,000 in two weeks) it's going to be heroic to fulfill a lot of orders by end of 2018.
Those 325k were announced in a Tesla blog on April 7 and as many people know, Tesla never spend a dime on ads – it's all word of mouth about Model 3. It's organic.
Model 3 literally opens a new chaprer in history and we keep our fingers crossed for Tesla to successfully produce this amazing new EV with the same or greater passion to accellerate the world's transition to sustainable energy.
