Tesla has officially delivered the first production Model 3 units.
Earlier this evening, Tesla hosted a special event to hand over the keys for the first 30 Tesla Model 3 sedans to their new owners. Before that happened however, the American automaker gave an inside look at the company, including a stop at the new Gigafactory that is being built in Nevada and its assembly line. It then showcased the top three fan-created ads that were part of a contest announced earlier this year. The idea behind the contest actually came from a fifth-grade girl named Bria, who was on stage to present the winning ad and the two runner-ups.
Once the pre-event webcast finished, Tesla CEO Elon Musk took the stage behind the wheel of a red production Model 3. Musk first focused on the Model 3’s interior, reiterating how autonomous vehicles will eventually make instrument clusters unnecessary, which explains why the dash is so simplistic with just one giant screen in the center. He then showed a short video clip comparing the Volvo S60, considered one of the safest cars in the world, to the Model 3 in a crash test. After showing the clip, Musk said the Volvo is arguably the second safest car in the world, since the Model 3 took less damage in the same crash test.
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Touching lightly on the ambitious production ramp up, Musk warned the employees present that they will be entering “production hell,” and once again emphasized the American automaker’s plans on how it’ll manage to deliver all the Model 3s currently on pre-order. Tesla’s initial target will be 5,000 units per week. He also mentioned there should be over 18,000 Superchargers by the end of next year.
Then the information everyone has been anxiously waiting was announced. There will initially be two variants for the Model 3: Standard and Long Range. The Tesla Model 3 Standard will start at $35,000 and offer 220 miles of range on a single charge, while having a zero-to-60 mph time of 5.6 seconds and a top speed of 130 mph. The Long Range model will cost $44,000 and offer 310 miles of range, a 5.1-second zero-to-60 time, and a top speed of 140 mph.
The first 30 customer cars were then handed over to their new owners, with Musk adding that 50 units were actually produced this month, but 20 will be used by the company for validating and testing.
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