Climate Changed

Tesla Rolls Out Its First Model 3, and It’s Elon’s

Musk flipped the switch on the production line, beginning a new era for electric cars. But it’s a long road to mass production.

Tesla Rolls Out Its First Model 3

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By Tom Randall

July 10, 2017 at 12:40 AM UTC

Updated on

July 10, 2017 at 3:10 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

It’s finally here: The Model 3, Tesla’s $35,000 electric gamechanger. A single black Model 3 rolled off the production line Friday with a serial number all its own, kicking off a company-defining six months. The car will belong to Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO and co-founder, who shared images of it on Twitter over the weekend.

Tesla has already taken in roughly half a billion dollars in Model 3 deposits, at $1,000 apiece, and its proposed ramp-up schedule would have it rivaling well-established U.S. market peers like BMW and Mercedes by year’s end. The only thing standing between Tesla and being the world’s first mass-market electric carmaker is proving it can build, deliver, and service enormous numbers of these vehicles—without sacrificing quality.