Tesla Motors unveiled the prototype of its Tesla Model 3 last month, the latest in its range of electric sedan cars which it says will “accelerate” the global drive for sustainable transport.
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The California-based carmaker said the Model 3 sedan is its most affordable car ever built with the range, safety, and performance of a Tesla-branded product. The car is being offered with a starting price of US$35,000 before incentives.
Model 3 can run for 215 miles (346 kilometres) per charge and has a pick-up speed reaching 60 mph (96.5 kph) in under six seconds, Tesla said on its website. Car experts say this range is sufficient for car owners to drive from one Tesla Supercharger station to another.
The firm said pre-orders have reached more than 275,000 within days after the launch, amounting to sales of more than US$10 billion. Production and start of delivery for these orders are expected by late 2017.
After the carmaker received massive reservation bookings, CEO and founder Elon Musk tweeted on April 1: “Definitely going to need to rethink production planning.”
Forbes.com’s contributor Adam Hartung commented that people’s reception to Tesla’s latest product shows there is a real unmet need in the car industry.
“Based on recent orders, Tesla is vastly outselling competitive electric automobiles made by competitors, all of whom are much bigger and better resourced. And those are all the signs of a real game changer,” Hartung noted.
Even rival Nissan’s chief executive Carlos Ghosn took the positive feedback of consumers to Model 3 as a very good sign for the electric vehicle market.
Nissan produces its own range of electric cars and positions EVs as an important pillar of its business.
“Finally, good competition for EVs is picking up,” he told Automotive News website.
