Demand for Tesla Motors' new lower-priced electric car surprised even the company's CEO Friday as 198,000 people plunked down $1,000 deposits to reserve their vehicles.
"Definitely going to need to rethink production planning," a surprised CEO Elon Musk said on his Twitter feed.
Musk unveiled the car Thursday night at a design studio near Los Angeles. It starts at $35,000 and has a range of 215 miles per charge, which is far more than most people drive each day.
The orders came from across the globe even though the car isn't scheduled for sale until late in 2017. But they could jeopardize a $7,500 US electric car tax credit that many buyers are counting on to reduce the price. The tax credits gradually phase out after a company hits 200,000 in US sales.
A Tesla spokeswoman wouldn't say how many of the 198,000 orders came from the US.
Thursday night, Musk said Tesla had 115,000 orders since the company started taking them earlier in the day in Australia. There were long lines at Tesla stores from Hong Kong to Austin, Texas, reminiscent of crowds at Apple stores for early models of the iPhone. But the number kept rising into Friday.
"Thought it would slow way down today, but Model 3 order count is now at 198k," Musk tweeted during the afternoon, saying the wait time for the car is "growing rapidly."
Prototypes looked like a shorter version of Tesla's Model S sedan. The Model 3 has a panoramic glass roof and an elongated hood. Inside, it seats five and has the same large touchscreen dashboard as other Teslas. It also has Tesla's suite of semi-autonomous driving features, including automatic lane changing and lane keeping. Musk said it will accelerate from zero to 60 in less than 6 seconds.
Tesla has a history of missing deadlines for its vehicles to hit the market, but Musk said Thursday that he feels "fairly confident" that the Model 3 will come out next year.
The lower-priced car is the most serious test yet of 13-year-old Tesla's ability to go from niche player to a full-fledged automaker. It could be the car that finally makes electrics mainstream - or consumers could continue to be skeptical that electrics will work for everyday use. In the US, they still make up less than 1 percent of annual sales. Either way, the Model 3 is already changing the industry, spurring competitors to speed development of electric cars.
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