Tesla CEO Elon Musk says model 3 sedan production will begin on Friday

SAN FRANCISCO: Tesla Inc’s missioncritical Model 3 will start production on Friday before beginning a rap-id ramp-up targeting a rate of 20,000 a month in December. “Expecting to complete” the first car on Friday, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk wrote in Twitter post, adding that it passed all its regulatory requirements for production two weeks ahead of sched-ule.

The company will hold a handover party for its first 30 customers of the Model 3 on July 28, he said in a separate post. Tesla aims to produce 100 of the cars in August and more than 1,500 in September in its push to achieve its year-end goal, Musk said.

The Model 3, the company’s most affordable car yet, had been expected to begin production in July, but there had been little news on how the preparations at Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California, were progressing.

When a Twitter follower of the CEO asked him last week to “please have mercy” and give more information on the release, Musk responded cryptically that he would offer “news on Sunday”. Investors have pushed up shares of Palo Alto, California-based Tesla 72 per cent this year in anticipation of the Model 3.

Shares rose as much as 2.7% in Monday trading following news of the updated timeline. The company now makes two all-electric models: the Model S sedan and Model X sport utility vehicle. The Model 3, which is slated to start at $35,000 before options or incentives, is the culmination of Tesla’s 15-year-quest to reach mainstream consumers with a smaller, more affordable electric car.