Tesla Model 3 Preorders Hit $7.5 Billion In 24 Hours: Now Elon Musk Needs To Rethink Production Planning

The Tesla Model 3 is arguably one of the most coveted vehicles this year, hitting the $7.5 billion mark in just a day, but the carmaker will have to take some measures to accommodate the demand.

To start things off, Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed the figures via Twitter, saying that 180,000 preorders were placed when things kicked off. With an estimated $42,000 price for each car, that's $7.5 billion within 24 hours.

It doesn't end there either, as the good news for the company just went on rolling, reaching a preorder count of 198,000 roughly two hours after the first tweet.

As the number just kept on growing, it seems that the intensive production may have dawned on Musk, as he makes another post on the social media platform following the updated preorder figure.

Back in 2015, Tesla managed to ship out 50,580 cars in total. That has barely met the company's sales projection of 50,000 to 55,000 units. This time around, the carmaker will have to push efforts in production by about fourfold compared to last year's result if it wants to deliver a Model 3 to every expecting owner so far.

"It's a big challenge to ramp up from 50,000 to 500,000," Mark Wakefield, an auto consultant at AlixPartners, said.

On that note, Musk announced that Tesla has a factory in Fremont, California that is capable of producing 500,000 units annually. That's certainly good news for those who preordered the Model 3, including Wakefield.

The Model 3 is the most affordable Tesla electric vehicle that is targeted at the masses, and it's definitely living up to that name. It's slated to hit the roads sometime in late 2017.