Tesla Model 3 bookings top $10 billion in 36 hours; Indian bookings still open for $1,000

The Model 3 is the electric vehicle upon which everything the Silicon Valley company and its genius co-founder Elon Musk dreamt of for transportation is built. Its predecessors, the Roadster, the Model S, and Model X, were just means to an end - the end being building an affordable (relatively speaking) electric car that puts an end to all the concerns consumers has with EVs with the profit generated from its more expensive siblings that came before it.

Unveiled last week at a glitzy ceremony at Tesla Motor’s design studio in Hawthorne, California, the Model 3 shattered all records and expectations when the preorders started pouring in, both online and in dealerships across the world. Musk tweeted on Sunday that Tesla had received 276,000 orders worldwide for its $35,000 Model 3 by the end of Saturday, more than 18 months before the first deliveries will be made. If all those orders turned into actual purchases, Tesla would be in line for about $10bn in revenues from the Model 3.

This whooping figure could be even higher in reality considering the Model 3’s average selling price projected by Musk is well above the $35,000 base price. Analysts earlier had estimated the first Model 3s off the factory line in Fremont, California, could be loaded with extra equipment and sell for $50,000 to$60,000.

Tesla has undertaken a costly expansion of the Fremont plant, aiming to boost annual capacity to 500,000 by 2020, with production of the Model 3 ramping up slowly through 2019. Some analysts said the company could have trouble filling all the initial Model 3 orders, which are accompanied by a refundable $1,000 deposit, until 2020.

The Model 3 will also mark the EV maker’s entry into India. Musk has already confirmed that “Supercharging” stations will be set up across the country later next year, to go with the sales of the Model 3.

Indian customers can sill pre-book the Model 3 for the rupee-equivalent of $1,000 – which translates to roughly Rs 66,000 in today’s exchange rate. That is quite a price to put down for a car that could possibly cost more than twice it costs in its home market, but that hasn’t stopped early adopters like Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of mobile wallet company Paytm, venture capitalist Mahesh Murthy, Vishal Gondal of wearable and fitness technology company GOQii, and Sujayath Ali, CEO of online fashion platform Voonik from forking out the cash.

As for the car itself, the Tesla Model S will reportedly deliver at least 350 kilometres on a single charge, and the base version will sprint from 0-96 kmph in under 6 seconds. Inside, five adults will fit comfortably, and it features more cargo capacity than any petrol or diesel car of the same external dimensions. Other faster and more powerful variants are also in the pipeline.