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Tesla Model 3 Founders Series Will Be First Delivered To Company Employees

Tesla’s Model 3, the most affordable automobile ever offered by the American brand, will begin deliveries this year, but with a twist.
Tesla Model 3 1 photo
Photo: Tesla
The Founders Series Model 3, which is Tesla’s equivalent of Mercedes-Benz’ Edition 1 models, will be delivered to company employees first. Instead of offering the first completed units to customers, the company will hand those cars over to its employees.

Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, confirmed the move to Teslarati, and also provided a reasonable explanation for the situation. While it may seem that Tesla is inexplicably favoring employees over customers, the automaker wants to be sure that the first people to drive production-built Model 3 cars will be familiar with the brand.

The employees will also be more interested in ensuring the brand will succeed, and their feedback will be more concise than what regular users will provide.

Moreover, Tesla is also a fan of updating its models through over-the-air-software, which can ensure that the first customer cars will not manifest any potential bugs or “hiccups” encountered by the early users.

After Tesla completes delivering the Founders Series Model 3 units to its employees, it will continue to hand over the keyfobs of the automobiles acquired by clients close to its factory in Fremont, California. From there, production will be ramped up, and the distribution process will be operated as it is with conventional automobiles.

Tesla will begin series production of the Model 3 in July, and its suppliers have learned that the company will make about 1,000 vehicles per week in the first month.

In August 2017, Tesla wants to build about 4,000 Model 3 cars each week. September will bring another hike in production, while 2018 is supposed to reach maximum capacity.

Tesla has a target of 10,000 Model 3 units per week when this car reaches its full capacity. If we consider the fact that a year has 52 weeks, Tesla intends to manufacture about 52,000 Model 3 cars in 2018. That is far from the massive number of pre-orders it received in the form of refundable deposits, and the faith of its customers might be put to the test of patience.
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About the author: Sebastian Toma
Sebastian Toma profile photo

Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland.
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