Clear skies ahead, or a funding exercise?
Tesla, the US electric car maker that seems to repeatedly run into problems as they try to build cars, has curiously rolled out invitations for US & Canadian buyers waiting on their Model 3 compact saloon to fork out US$2500 (or about $3,400) to lock down their build slots and begin configuring their cars, according to The Detroit News. This move by the firm is being seen as either promising or dismaying by observers, for a couple of reasons.
Traditionally, Tesla takes a US$1,000 deposit to reserve a car, and then when the time comes to actually build it, a further US$2,500 is requested to secure the build slot and select options ahead of production. We’re doubtful that Tesla has suddenly freed up enough capacity to fulfil all of its US & Canadian orders in one go, which raises questions as to why the company is seeking confirmation fees from customers right now.
On the one hand, it could signal clear skies over the Model 3’s production line, and the end of a wait that began for many customers at the model’s announcement event back in 2016. On the other hand, it could just be Tesla looking to firm up funding, because with hundreds of thousands of customers in the States and Canada waiting for their Model 3s, they could rake in several hundred million dollars that would definitely make their second quarterly report of 2018 look very healthy indeed.
A couple of weeks ago, we ran an article reporting that nearly a quarter of US customers who reserved their Model 3 opted to cancel their reservation and have their $1000 deposit refunded back in April, following an announcement by CEO Elon Musk that the entry-level, US$35k Model 3 was facing more delays as the company prioritised pushing out higher-margin, more expensive variants of the car.
Since then, Tesla has opened a third, temporary production line to expedite the delivery of the firm’s entry-level model, though Bloomberg reports that the Fremont-based company is still only churning out about 3,400 Model 3’s a week rather than the 5,000/week that Musk promised Tesla would manage by last December. We’ll hang tight for a production and delivery report next week as the second-quarter of 2018 draws to a close, and comb through the numbers to see if anything interesting pops up.
For more information on Tesla, check out our Showroom.
