Tesla Sends Out Invites For Model 3 Unveiling: Here's What We Know So Far

Tesla has delivered the first batch of invitations for the unveiling of the Model 3.

CEO and co-founder of Tesla Elon Musk has confirmed that the highly anticipated electric vehicle (EV) will premiere on March 31, and on that very same day, the carmaker will start accepting orders and reservations at physical stores and accept online transactions the next day on April 1.

The Event
An invitation was posted on the Tesla Motors Club forum by a user who goes by the name of Reeler. The invitation didn't give out exact details of where the event will take place, but as the invite says, the closest airport is the Los Angeles International Airport. That means it's pretty safe to assume that it will be held at the Tesla design studio in Hawthorne, California.

Interestingly, Tesla is also believed to reveal the Model Y, which is essentially a stripped-down version of the Model X SUV, but some say that only the Model 3 will turn up there.

Availability
Tesla is quite known for missing deadlines, just like the case with the Model S and then the Model X. However, the March 31 reveal date seems to be set in stone now, as the company did send out invitations already. The same can't be said about the actual arrival of the Model 3, though. At any rate, it's expected to hit the consumer market sometime in 2017. Musk already confirmed this back in September 2015, but he did say that a "fully operational Gigafactory" is needed.

What all this means is that there's a slim chance that the Model 3 won't go official on time. Still, Tesla could break the missed-deadline trend that's going on, but things aren't really looking all too good. On that note, the Gigafactory is not the biggest factor in delivering the Model 3 in a timely manner, according to Musk.

"Basically, to the best of our knowledge, you should not worry about the Gigafactory as a constraint on Model 3. That does not appear to be anywhere near the critical path for Model 3," he says.