The First Tesla Model 3 Deliveries Will Happen At The End Of The Month

Tesla’s mid-2017 production kick-off target for the Model 3 has been treated with a hell of a lot of skepticism in the car industry. We get why: the Model S and X were both hit by delays at the beginning of their respective lives, after all.

However, it seems like the Model 3 will just about hit the target, with Elon Musk confirming on Twitter that the first cars will be in the hands of customers by the end of July. OK, so that is technically a tad past the halfway point of the year, but given that one industry analyst last year predicted the car wouldn’t arrive until the end of 2018, that seems close enough.

The first car (“SN1” or Serial Number 1) will be completed on Friday, and the first 30 Model 3 customers will receive their cars at a “handover party” on 28 July.

Production will grow “exponentially,” with 100 cars built in August and 1500 in September, with an output of 20,000 vehicles a month reached by December. Given that around 500,000 people have put down a deposit, it seems like it’ll take some time to clear the backlog.

As the car’s debut draws closer, we’re getting a much better idea of what it’ll be like. It’ll do 0-60mph in 5.6 seconds, have a single digital display (not placed in front of the driver, oddly), and have a range of 215 miles. Model 3 customers will have to pay for Supercharger access, and - in a bid to keep things simple for the sake of minimising delays - it won’t have anywhere near as many customisation options as the Model S.