Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to his Twitter account Tuesday to report that there has already been nearly 300,000 preorders of the automaker's new Model 3 since its unveiling last week.
Just a couple of days later ... and the toll is rising. The electric vehicle manufacturer announced Thursday that its preorder total has hit upwards of 325,000 reservations.
Needless to say, Tesla is ecstatic about the response and hunger for its newest vehicle.
"A week ago, we started taking reservations for Model 3, and the excitement has been incredible," Tesla wrote in a blog post Thursday. "We've now received more than 325,000 reservations, which corresponds to about $14 billion in implied future sales, making this the single biggest one-week launch of any product ever. This interest has spread completely organically. Unlike other major product launches, we haven't advertised or paid for any endorsements.
"Instead, this has been a true grassroots effort driven by the passion of the Tesla team that's worked so hard to get to this point and our current and future customers who believe so strongly in what we are trying to achieve," the post on Tesla's website continued. "Most importantly, we are all taking a huge step towards a better future by accelerating the transition to sustainable transportation."
Each reservation can be made by putting down a refundable deposit of $1,000. The new model, which will sell at the average price of $35,000, is slated to launch in late 2017. According to Reuters, Tesla will increase its production to 500,000 total vehicles by the year 2020.
The main question is: how long will it take for the electric vehicle maker to deliver its Model 3 cars? The question stems from the dragged-out launch of Tesla's Model X SUV late last year, a process that took longer than people might have expected.
Still, earlier this week, according to Reuters, Tesla reported that it delivered 14,820 vehicles during the first quarter of this year, which just ended March 31. That tally included 12,420 Model S sedans and 2,400 Model X SUVs, just shy of the 16,000 first-quarter deliveries that the company had originally predicted.
Tesla told Reuters that "severe shortages" of its parts for the Model X during the first two months of this year slashed into its production projections, triggering it to fall short.
Still, 325,000-plus Model 3 reservations thus far aren't bad.
