7 New Tesla Model 3 Highlights From Tesla

Tesla Motors (TSLA) just released its Q2 shareholder letter and held its complementary conference call last night (late last night my time — afternoon their time). Most of the highlights, including a lot of number fun, are here. However, Model 3 news seemed worth pulling out for its own story — after all, there are hundreds of thousands of reservation holders, and I’m sure many of you reservation holders aren’t at all interested in looking at production numbers, forecasts, gross margin, GAAP vs non-GAAP hairsplitting, etc.; but do want an update on where the heck your car is.

Here are 7 highlights regarding Model 3 from the shareholder letter:

1. The Tesla Model 3 design phase is over. In other words, your car is fully designed, and unless someone breaks a rule or two, no do-overs.
2. Yup, that’s a 2017 Tesla Model 3. Tesla still anticipates producing the first Tesla Model 3 stunners (which are almost guaranteed to break some automotive records and win a gigashelf full of awards) in 2017 … in volume. I presume that means Tesla still aims to produce all of the Model 3 sedans that were reserved before the unveiling before the end of 2017 (that = 4 for CleanTechnica, and probably thousands more for our readers).
3. Tooling up. Model 3 has officially been released for tooling, production planning, and validation. (This is basically an extension of #1, since it’s the next step of the process, but it’s still exciting to see it explicitly stated.)
4. But really, Tesla is tooling up. In case the above didn’t leave enough of an impression on you, Tesla dropped the mic just after saying, “Some Model 3 production equipment is already on line, including initial capacity in our stamping and paint centers.”
5. Your body is coming. Okay, Tesla didn’t drop the mic (and it wasn’t even holding a mic, since it isn’t a human, an animal, or a robot — and I’m writing about a damn shareholder letter, not a standup comedy act). Rather, it followed up those tooling statements by noting that it plans to start constructing “new Model 3 body and general assembly centers” sometime this year.
6. Gigafactory 1 gets more giga for Model 3. In anticipation of a much faster Tesla Model 3 production ramp (for all of us drooling minions), the company notes that it has accelerated Gigafactory 1 construction with an aim to reach a production rate of 35 GWh/year sometime in 2018. [Related: “Tesla Gigafactory 1 — Honestly, What’s The Big Deal? (At Essence, It’s Not The Numbers).”]
7. The masses are coming. Naturally, with Model 3 expected to more than double demand for Tesla electric land rockets, Tesla’s gonna need some more stores. While this wasn’t explicitly about Model 3, I think you can read between the lines: “We are also accelerating store openings and plan to add a new retail location every four days on average during the remainder of Q3 and through Q4. We are adding stores in new population-dense markets like Taipei, Seoul, and Mexico City, while also adding stores in our most mature markets like California.” A new location every 4 days — I’m sure that doesn’t concern BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Porsche, etc., at all. 😉

Fun times in Silicon Valley. But please, stop drooling.

Photos by Kyle Field, for CleanTechnica