The launch of Tesla's recently unveiled car for the masses, the Model 3, was very successful, with the company taking far more pre-orders than what it expected. With the current pace of the pre-orders for the vehicle, analysts project that the number of reservations for the upcoming vehicle is set to pass the 300,000 mark by the start of the week.
By Saturday, the number of pre-orders was already well into the 276,000 range. Considering that the car had only been available for pre-order since last Thursday night, such numbers are indeed very admirable. In fact, the Model 3's figures are so impressive, its pre-orders have now exceeded the total number of cars sold by other prominent EV manufacturers such as GM, Toyota, Ford, BMW and Volkswagen over the past five years.
With the Model 3's extremely strong performance , the only EV that so far surpasses Tesla's figures is the current king of electric cars, the Nissan Leaf, which has sold more than 200,000 vehicles since 2011.
Despite Tesla's impressive pre-order figures, however, a challenge now emerges for the new carmaker. With all the demand for the Model 3, how could Tesla adequately deliver?
When the Model 3 was launched, CEO Elon Musk stated that the upcoming car would start rolling out of the company's production line by late 2017. As the numbers piled up, however, Tesla ended up doubling back, reminding customers that the company is also building the firm's other two vehicles, the Model S and the Model X.
Furthermore, the company also acknowledged that in the past, deliveries for the Model S and Model X were delayed, partly due to the intricacy of the vehicles' design and partly due to the company's "hubris."
Despite the production delays in the company's current vehicles, Tesla remains confident that the company's production for the Model 3 will not experience the same problems.
Tesla has become one of the most notable and profitable EV manufacturers in the world, with its vehicles being lauded for being powerful, cost-effective and most of all, environmentally friendly. Since the Model 3's launch, the company's shares have rallied, jumping 3 percent last Friday to roughly $237 a share.
Such a price is quite notable, especially since the company is rebounding from February's lows when stocks dropped to about $144 a share.
