The Tesla Model 3 officially entered production on Friday and it was company founder Elon Musk who took delivery of the first example of the electric compact car.
Musk tweeted two photos of the first-ever production Model 3 on Saturday night. The car was actually reserved by Tesla board member Ira Ehrenpreis, who he was the first person to put down a deposit for the Model 3, however Ehrenpreis gifted his reservation to Musk as a 46th birthday present.
It’s not clear what options the first Model 3 is equipped with, but Musk has previously said the initial run of cars will only offer two options: body color and wheels. Tesla has confirmed all Model 3s will have at least 215 miles of range and boasts a 0-60 mph time of 5.6 seconds. Details on pricing have not yet been provided, but the electric automaker has said previously it would like to price the car from $35,000.
SEE ALSO: Tesla Model 3 Production Will Start Today
Also of note is the Model 3’s semi-autonomous hardware, which will come standard on the car as a pay-to-use feature. Customers can pay to have the system activated as an option upon ordering their car, or have it activated at a later point if they change their mind. Tesla hopes its self-driving tech will be capable of SAE Level 5 autonomous driving by the end of the year, which means no human intervention would be required to pilot the car at any point.
Musk has planned a “handover party,” for the first 30 Model 3 customers on July 28th and is expecting a further 100 deliveries to take place in August. If all goes to plan, about 20,000 Model 3s will be finding new homes per month by December.
First Production Model 3 pic.twitter.com/TCa2NSUNI3
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 9, 2017
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