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Tesla's Promised $35,000 Model 3 Is Still a Long Way Off (engadget.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the carrot-and-stick dept.

When the Model 3 was first unveiled, it was pitched as an EV for the masses that would have a reasonable $35,000 price. Two years later and we still don't have a clear timeline as to when the $35,000 Model 3 will ship. In fact, Elon Musk last weekend unveiled the pricing and specs of a newer, more expensive Model 3 with AWD. It will cost $78,000. Engadget reports: CEO Elon Musk recently tweeted that the $35,000 Model 3 now won't ship until three to six months after Tesla achieves its 5,000 vehicle-per-week production goal. The reason for the new delay in the base model is simple: If the company was to ship it now, it would lose money on every vehicle and "die," as Musk put it. If Tesla had hit its initial forecasts and was producing 5,000 vehicles a week by January, the base, $35,000 Model 3 probably wouldn't have been delayed by so much. One potential problem for Tesla, as the WSJ points out, is that many of the 500,000 buyers who laid down a $1,000 deposit did so expecting to buy a $35,000 car, not a $49,000 one. When they get a letter saying the time has come to configure their EVs, quite a few might decide to back out, which could impact Tesla's already precarious cash flow situation.

3 of 276 comments (clear)

  1. please please sell me your Tesla shares by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Dear mutual friend. My name is Pieter Mercer-Koch and I am a poor billionaire short seller and, due to a strange circumstance I am now in debt for 4037 (four thousand and thirty seven) Tesla shares. I am writing with an offer which will be of joint appreciation. I know you possess 45 (forty five) Tesla shares and are afraid that if, in the current delicate circumstances you attempt to sell them the share price will collapse under the unbearable weight of having to sell their cars for to much money (dollars, dinero, cash, folding stuff). Send me your share certificates and I will relieve you of this problem.

    Please. I'm begging now.

    CAPTCH: slumming

  2. Re: Tesla's every promise is a long way off. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Found the short!

  3. $35,000 Model 3 Is Still a Long Way Off by Hognoxious · · Score: 5, Funny

    Alternative explanation: it's actually very small.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."